Ride Therapeutics, a biotechnology company with locations in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Cambridge, England, has announced on September 10, 2026, a strategic investment from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The Foundation has committed up to US$7.3 million to support Ride's Molecular Logistics platform, which is designed to solve persistent delivery challenges. The funding will focus on developing novel, non-viral carriers that can deliver genetic medicines to the lung for all people living with cystic fibrosis.
A Platform Built to Measure Delivery in the Body
Ride's Molecular Logistics platform constructs ultra-diverse libraries containing many millions of nanoparticles through a proprietary nano-engineering approach. These carriers can be manufactured in different sizes, for a range of genetic cargoes, and from a variety of biocompatible components to maximize diversity. Entire libraries are then evaluated after systemic or inhaled administration to determine precisely which tissues and cell types each carrier reaches in the body.
Funding to Accelerate Lung-Focused Development
The new investment is expected to accelerate Ride's existing progress using intravenous delivery while also supporting expansion of the technology for inhaled delivery across lung tissue. This dual route approach is intended to overcome long-standing obstacles in reaching the cells most relevant to cystic fibrosis pathology. The work directly aligns with the Foundation's goal of advancing treatments for every person affected by the condition.
Generative AI Powered by Billions of Data Points
Ride uses billions of datapoints collected from its delivery studies to train an AI model of biological delivery. This model powers a generative design engine that produces optimized carriers for specific tissues and cell types of interest. By measuring delivery directly in the body rather than in laboratory dishes or simulations, the platform learns practical biological rules that can guide next-generation medicines.
Origins and Scientific Foundation
Ride was launched in 2023 as a spin-out from Harvard University and the University of Cambridge, building on technology developed in the laboratories of Professors David Weitz and Tuomas Knowles. The company was initially funded by an US$8.0 million seed round and has focused on solving the delivery challenges that have limited genetic medicines beyond the liver. Its broader mission is to unlock delivery of any cargo to any tissue or cell type.
Leadership Perspective on the Collaboration
Sam Cohen, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of Ride Therapeutics, said that the promise of genetic medicines has never been greater but can only be realized by solving delivery. He explained that Ride has already screened millions of diverse carriers and discovered hits in many traditionally hard-to-reach tissues. Cohen expressed excitement about joining the mission to deliver a cure for all cystic fibrosis patients in collaboration with the CF Foundation.
Broader Implications for Genetic Medicine
The company's approach could have applications beyond cystic fibrosis, including RNA therapies, gene therapy, and gene editing. By creating a generalizable system for carrier design, Ride aims to address a central bottleneck that has held back the entire genetic medicine field. The collaboration with the CF Foundation provides both financial support and disease-specific expertise to validate the platform in a clinically meaningful way.
This strategic investment underscores the increasing importance of delivery innovation in realizing the full potential of genetic medicines. By integrating large-scale biological data generation with generative AI, Ride Therapeutics is working to transform how therapies reach difficult tissues such as the lung. The collaboration with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation could accelerate progress toward effective lung-targeted therapies while opening new possibilities across multiple disease areas.