Catalyzing Drug Discovery with AI and Scaled Chemical Libraries with Devon Cayer

Excited to put out a conversation with Devon Cayer, Co-Founder and CEO of 1859, a platform biotech company merging pico-scale screening and AI to scale small molecule discovery. We talk about his story that led him to founding 1859, how the company was built, and the long-term vision. Devon discusses how to set and measure core metrics for drug discovery platforms and business model design. A key theme across the conversation is "[creating] an ecosystem of solutions to problems." A framework Devon picked up during his scientific career and still applies to growing 1859.

Devon first got interested in science through Discover Magazine and Jurassic Park. Then fell in love with chemistry while in college at UCLA. He then went to grad school at Scripps working under M. Reza Ghadiri on everything ranging from molecule computation to DNA barcodes and enzyme therapeutics. The lab was actually nicknamed the "Wizards and Warlocks" lab due to the seemingly crazy ideas they pursued. While there, Devon had several formative experiences around his interests in startups and solving problems in medicine. After his PhD, he went on to co-found MYi Diagnostics, learning a lot of lessons along the way. He then went on to work at Singular Genomics and Omniome to learn more about scaling a business.

While at a Scripps seminar by Richard Lerner on DNA-encoded libraries (DEL), Devon saw an important problem: DELs were relegated to binding-based assays and were not functional or cell-based. Knowing he could screen large libraries at pico-scale and barcode them from his training at Scripps and work at Singular/Omniome, Devon sensed he had a solution for DELs. After assembling the founding team through frequent lunches and talks, 1859 got started in 2018. Named after the publication date of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, 1859 generates functional data for large libraries of chemical matter. The founders began pitching and refining their platform - Devon talks about fundraising and team building here. They have been able to build a platform that can screen millions of compounds every week. 1859's workflow is made up of 4 parts: (1) A target, (2) Tailor-made libraries of 100Ks of compounds, (3) Pico-scale screening to create a structure-activity relationship for each compound, and (4) Using machine learning to identify the best leads. During this part of the conversation we touch on core metrics of the platform and how it was built piece-by-piece.

After talking about the technology, we move into the business model of 1859. Inspired by AbCellera, Adimab, among others to spread out risk of capital intensity, 1859 is a catalyst for drug discovery. The company has built an ecosystem for small molecule discovery with multiple ways to plug into their platform: a Discovery Access program where partners gain access to workflows & libraries, Technology Access where 1859 builds out their technology and capabilities at a partner site, and Program Access where 1859 identifies their own Targets or works with academic institutions to develop medicines for their own pipeline. The company is just getting started but Devon and the entire team have done an impressive job to an idea originally inspired by a scientific talk into reality and a product touching a large set of drug developers and partners.