# Creyon Bio

> Creyon Bio is a San Diego biotech reinventing how RNA-targeted medicines are designed. Founded in 2019 by former Ionis Pharmaceuticals scientists, the company pairs machine learning with quantum-level molecular modeling in its NucleIQ platform - an AI-Powered Oligo Engineering Engine - to predict the safety, efficacy, and delivery of oligonucleotide-based medicines before they ever reach a lab bench. The goal: replace slow, expensive trial-and-error with computational design rules that make precision therapeutics engineerable 'on demand,' for both rare and common diseases across neuromuscular, CNS, and immunologic areas.

- **Founded:** 2019
- **Headquarters:** San Diego, California, United States
- **Founders:** Chris Hart (Co-Founder & founding President/CEO (former Executive Director of Functional Genomics at Ionis Pharmaceuticals)), Swagatam Mukhopadhyay (Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer (former Principal Computational Biologist at Ionis Pharmaceuticals))
- **Team size:** ~31 employees
- **Products:** NucleIQ Platform, AI-Powered Oligo Engineering Engine, Wholly-owned pipeline (OBMs), Aptamer & LNP delivery technology
- **Notable:** Raised $40M in seed and Series A financing led by DCVC Bio and Lux Capital (2022)., Signed a multi-target collaboration with Eli Lilly worth over $1B in potential milestones plus $13M upfront (2025)., Built the industry-first AI-Powered Oligo Engineering Engine combining machine learning with quantum-level modeling.

## Products & services

- **NucleIQ Platform** — AI-Powered Nucleic Acid Engineering platform combining machine learning with quantum-level molecular modeling and proprietary datasets to predict the safety, efficacy, and tissue-specific delivery of oligonucleotide-based medicines.
- **AI-Powered Oligo Engineering Engine** — Computational engine that simulates how experimental oligonucleotide drugs bind to RNA inside cells, designing and optimizing candidates on timescales not previously achievable in nucleic acid drug development.
- **Wholly-owned pipeline (OBMs)** — Three internal oligonucleotide-based medicine programs spanning antisense oligonucleotides, siRNA, and RNA-editing modalities, including a lead neuromuscular candidate advancing toward clinical trials and a splice-switching therapy explored for late-onset Pompe disease.
- **Aptamer & LNP delivery technology** — Targeted delivery approaches including a transferrin-receptor aptamer to cross the blood-brain barrier and aptamer/lipid-nanoparticle delivery to immune cells for CNS and immunologic indications.

## Achievements

- Raised $40M in seed and Series A financing led by DCVC Bio and Lux Capital (2022).
- Signed a multi-target collaboration with Eli Lilly worth over $1B in potential milestones plus $13M upfront (2025).
- Built the industry-first AI-Powered Oligo Engineering Engine combining machine learning with quantum-level modeling.
- Advanced three wholly-owned oligonucleotide programs, with a lead neuromuscular candidate targeting clinical development around 2026.
- Recruited veteran biopharma executive Serge Messerlian (former Janssen Oncology President, Teon Therapeutics CEO) as CEO in April 2025.

## Latest updates

- **2025-04** — Announced a global licensing and multi-target research collaboration with Eli Lilly, with $13M upfront and eligibility for over $1B in milestones.
- **2025-04** — Appointed industry veteran Serge Messerlian as Chief Executive Officer.
- **2024-09** — Appointed Serge Messerlian and Shaquille Vayda to its Board of Directors.
- **2022-03** — Emerged from stealth and closed $40M in seed and Series A financing to build out its AI oligonucleotide design platform.

## Links

- Website: https://creyon.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/creyonbio/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/creyonbio

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/creyon-bio
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-12