Serna Bio

What Serna Bio does

Serna Bio (legal entity: Ladder Therapeutics Ltd) is a UK-based, AI-enabled drug discovery company founded in 2021 that develops small molecules modulating RNA translation and splicing for targets previously considered undruggable. The company operates an integrated platform comprising three proprietary components: Orion (RNA Atlas), a dataset of 50,000+ experimentally determined functional RNA structures covering oncology and immunology targets such as c-MYC, STATs, and NFkB; Polaris, a generative AI chemistry platform trained on ~2.4 million proprietary data points that is benchmarked as outperforming NVIDIA MolMIM and AstraZeneca's REINVENT for RNA-small molecule design with a 47% experimental hit rate; and Ara, an in-cell chemi-transcriptomics screening platform described as a 'kinome panel for RNA'. The company has also published STaR (Small molecules Targeting RNA) physicochemical rules defining the chemical space enriched for RNA binders, and reports an ML classifier ROC AUC of 0.769 versus 0.632 on the public ROBIN benchmark. Its published ML models use logistic regression with ECFP fingerprints and graph/language-based embeddings, with multi-parameter optimisation across on-target activity, synthetic accessibility, Lipinski's Rule of Five, and docking scores.

Serna Bio generates revenue through research collaborations and partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, offering its AI/ML platform as a professional service spanning target identification, structural discovery, and chemical optimisation on client-supplied targets. GTM is exclusively enterprise field-sales: prospective partners engage via direct outreach to [email protected] and [email protected], with no self-serve, marketplace, or publicly disclosed pricing. Bayer is disclosed as the company's flagship commercial partner, and marketing is conducted through content (blog/insights), scientific preprints on bioRxiv, and organic social (LinkedIn, X). The company is registered in Widnes, England and operates from the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, with 1–10 employees led by Founder & CEO Rabia Khan alongside Chief R&D Officer Danny Incarnato, Chief Scientific & Development Officer Chris Rusconi, Director of ChemAI Tim Allen, and an advisory bench that includes Nahum Sonenberg (McGill). No funding rounds, revenue figures, or ownership details are publicly disclosed.

Name

Serna Bio

Legal name

Ladder Therapeutics Ltd

Website

https://serna.bio

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Serna Bio is a UK-based, AI-native drug discovery company developing small molecules that target RNA translation and splicing for previously undruggable oncology and immunology targets, selling collaborative discovery programs to pharmaceutical and biotech partners such as Bayer.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI-enabled RNA Drug Discovery

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

AI/ML Platforms for Drug Discovery & Experiment Optimization (HLAGAJAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

RNA Therapeutics Platforms & Design (sequence design, target ID/validation, AI/bioinformatics) (HLAAADAG), AI/ML-Enabled Biologic Discovery Platforms (computational design, in silico screening) (HLAAAIAE)

Keywords

• RNA-targeted drug discovery
• AI drug discovery
• Small molecule therapeutics
• Generative chemistry platform
• Pharma biotech partnerships

Headquarters

HQ city

Widnes

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Collaborations and partnerships with pharma and biotech: Serna Bio generates revenue through research collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, including partnerships on target identification, structural discovery, and chemical optimisation projects. The company offers its AI/ML-powered RNA drug discovery platform as a service to external partners.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Serna Bio provides an AI/machine-learning enabled RNA drug discovery platform that designs selective small molecules modulating RNA translation and splicing. The platform integrates Orion (an RNA Atlas of 50,000+ experimentally determined functional RNA structures), Polaris (a GenAI chemistry platform trained on proprietary data), and Ara (an in-cell chemi-transcriptomics screening platform), and is delivered to pharmaceutical and biotech partners through collaborative research programs spanning target identification, structural discovery, and chemical optimisation.

Product overview

Serna Bio is an AI-enabled drug discovery company offering an integrated platform for RNA-targeted small molecule development. The Discovery Platform serves as the core orchestration layer, powered by Orion (RNA Atlas with 50,000+ experimentally determined RNA structures), Polaris (GenAI chemistry platform generating novel small molecules unconstrained by human bias), and Ara (in-cell chemi-transcriptomics screening platform). STaR Rules provide the physicochemical framework defining RNA-binding chemical space. Together, these components enable end-to-end discovery from target identification to chemical optimization of selective small molecules modulating RNA translation and splicing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Orion: RNA Atlas: The world's largest dataset for experimentally determined, functional RNA structures covering key cancer drivers and undruggable targets for immunology
• Polaris
• Ara
• STaR

Products and services

• Serna Bio Discovery Platform Integrated end-to-end AI/machine-learning platform for RNA-targeted small molecule drug discovery, combining Orion (RNA structure data), Polaris (generative chemistry), and Ara (in-cell chemi-transcriptomics screening) to identify and optimise selective small molecules modulating RNA translation and splicing. Delivered to enterprise pharmaceutical and biotech customers as collaborative research programs covering target identification, structural discovery, and chemical optimisation.
• Polaris GenAI Platform Generative AI chemistry platform trained on proprietary Serna Bio data that designs selective, novel small molecules modulating RNA function. Polaris generates molecules unconstrained by human medicinal chemistry biases and is demonstrated to outperform state-of-the-art public methods including NVIDIA MolMIM and AstraZeneca REINVENT for RNA-targeting molecule generation, achieving a 47% hit rate in biological assays.

Quantifiable outcome

• 47% hit rate of Polaris-generated compounds in biological assays, vs. only 1 of 411 compounds overlapping with human chemist designs
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• BayerflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerSerna Bio is engaged in collaborative RNA drug discovery projects with Bayer, ranging from target identification to chemical optimisation. This represents the company's flagship commercial partnership, positioning Serna Bio as a trusted partner in the pharmaceutical ecosystem for RNA-targeted small molecule programs.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Arrakis Therapeutics: Pioneer in RNA-targeted small molecule drug discovery with a platform focused on structured RNA pockets. Direct competitor to Serna Bio in the same therapeutic hypothesis (drugging RNA with small molecules) and similar pharma partnership GTM.
• Skyhawk Therapeutics: Develops small molecules that modulate RNA splicing for neurological and oncology indications. Closely comparable to Serna Bio's RNA-targeting approach and partnership-driven business model, with major pharma collaborations (e.g., Vertex, Merck).
• Expansion Therapeutics: Focused on RNA-targeted small molecules for repeat-expansion diseases (e.g., myotonic dystrophy, DM1, Huntington's). Directly comparable technology class and partner-seeking GTM motion.
• Ribometrix: Discovers small molecule drugs that target RNA structures to modulate protein expression. Shares the RNA-small molecule thesis with Serna Bio and pursues pharma partnerships for pipeline programs.
• Remix Therapeutics: Develops small molecules that modulate RNA processing, including splicing and degradation. Highly comparable target class (RNA biology) and small-molecule modality, with active pharma partnering.

Broad incumbents

• Insitro: AI-driven drug discovery company combining ML with high-throughput biology for target ID and lead optimization. Comparable in AI platform GTM and pharma partnerships, though more focused on broader target classes than RNA.
• Recursion Pharmaceuticals: Large-scale AI/ML-enabled drug discovery platform combining high-content imaging and computational biology. Comparable AI-first GTM and partnership model (e.g., Roche/Genentech, Bayer), though targets a much broader biology space.
• Exscientia: AI-driven precision medicine and small molecule design company with pharma partnerships (e.g., Sanofi, Bayer). Comparable generative AI chemistry stack and partnership-led GTM, though focused on broader target space than RNA.
• Isomorphic Labs: Alphabet-owned AI drug discovery company applying DeepMind's protein-structure and generative chemistry models to small molecule design. Adjacent AI/ML-first discovery platform with comparable computational approach and pharma partnerships.
• BenevolentAI: AI-driven drug discovery company combining knowledge graphs with ML for target identification and small molecule discovery. Comparable AI-platform GTM and pharma partnership model, though focused on broader target space.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/serna_bio
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sernabio

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Serna Bio