Deals In Depth: December 2021

Executive Summary

Eight $1bn+ alliances were penned in December. Topping the list was a potential $12.4bn deal between Recursion and Roche (and its Genentech subsidiary) involving the identification and development of small-molecule programs in a gastrointestinal cancer indication and in key areas of neuroscience. Recursion is responsible for creating a certain number of PhenoMaps, which are massive relational databases of biological and chemical perturbation phenotypes. For each of the PhenoMaps requested by Roche, Recursion may be subject to an initiation fee up to $250m for sixteen accepted PhenoMaps. Recursion will receive an up-front payment of $150m and is eligible for additional performance-based research milestones. Roche and Genentech have the option to obtain an exclusive license to initiate up to 40 programs, each of which, if successfully developed and commercialized, could yield more than $300m in development, commercialization, and sales milestones for Recursion.