[November 18, 2014] |
|
Intellia Therapeutics Announces $15 Million in Funding to Develop Therapeutic Products Utilizing CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing Technology
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --(Business Wire)--
Intellia Therapeutics, a new company formed to develop therapeutic
products using CRISPR-Cas9 technology for gene editing and repair,
announced today that it has closed a Series A investment round with $15
million in financing led by Atlas Venture and Novartis. Created by Atlas
Venture and Caribou Biosciences, together with leading scientists who
have pioneered and shaped the field of CRISPR biology, Intellia
leverages exclusive access to one of the most comprehensive intellectual
property portfolios covering the therapeutic application of this
transformative technology.
"Discovery of the CRISPR-Cas9 system has been a significant advance
toward the long-elusive therapeutic goal of targeting and repairing
specific genetic defects," said Nessan Bermingham, Ph.D., Chief
Executive Officer and co-founder of Intellia. "We have assembled an
experienced team with a track record of success in all phases of
development, from discovery through translation, clinical testing and
commercialization. Together with our key advisors, we are focused
squarely on clinical drug development as we progress toward our first
IND filing. Our goal is to ensure that patients suffering from
genetic-based diseases gain access to these potentially life-altering
therapeutics as swiftly as possible."
Since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2000, physicians
have sought an approach capable of translating emerging genomic insights
into meaningful medicines. The CRISPR-Cas9 system, whose mechanism was
revealed in 2012, has emerged as the leading technology for therapeutic
gene modification. CRISPR-Cas9 harnesses the body's natural DNA repair
machinery to enable the repair, knockout or replacement of specific
genes in the human genome.
"We believe the impact of this technology will be far-reaching, leading
to new therapies for diseases that have been underserved with current
theapeutic approaches," said Jean-François Formela, M.D., Partner,
Atlas Venture. "Intellia was created to play a leading role in
CRISPR-Cas9 therapeutic development, which will be greatly accelerated
by decades of innovation across cell and gene therapy, RNA modification
and stabilization and oligonucleotide delivery."
"Translating the potential of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology to focused
pre-clinical and clinical development programs at Intellia is an
exciting step forward in the evolution of our cell engineering
platform," said Rachel Haurwitz, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and
co-founder of Caribou Biosciences. "The management team, advisors and
investors assembled at Intellia have an outstanding track record of
developing therapeutics that will transform the lives of patients."
Development Focus
Intellia's initial therapeutic focus is ex vivo applications,
wherein cells are removed from the body (collected from blood or bone
marrow), modified to correct disease-causing genes and returned to the
patient for therapeutic benefit. Near-term ex vivo applications
include blood disorders, therapeutic protein production and cancer,
focused on such approaches as CAR-T and checkpoint inhibitor regulation.
Intellia also initiated longer-term development of in vivo
applications, administered either systemically or locally to correct
genes residing within specific cells of the body. In vivo
applications include ophthalmic, central nervous system (CNS), muscle,
liver, anti-infective and other disease states.
Management Team and Directors
To accelerate these efforts, Intellia has assembled a fully integrated
management team with deep commercial, clinical, scientific and technical
experience. In addition to founding Chief Executive Officer, Nessan
Bermingham, Ph.D., Intellia is led by Chief Scientific Officer Thomas
Barnes, Ph.D., former Vice President of Discovery at Eleven
Biotherapeutics; Chief Medical Officer John Leonard, M.D., former Chief
Scientific Officer at AbbVie; Chief Technology Officer David Morrissey,
Ph.D., former Head of siRNA at Novartis; and General Counsel José
Rivera, former Divisional Vice President and Associate General Counsel,
Intellectual Property Group at Abbott.
Teams are aligned around three priority areas - platform development,
delivery technology and prioritization of therapeutic applications -
with specialized scientific advisory boards dedicated to each.
The company's founders are Nessan Bermingham, Ph.D.; Rachel Haurwitz,
Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Caribou Biosciences;
Andrew May, D. Phil., Chief Scientific Officer of Caribou Biosciences;
Rodolphe Barrangou, Ph.D., Associate Professor at North Carolina State
University; Erik Sontheimer, Ph.D., Professor at University of
Massachusetts Medical School; and Luciano Marraffini, Ph.D., Assistant
Professor at Rockefeller University. The Board of Directors includes
Bermingham, Haurwitz, May and also Jean-François Formela, M.D., Partner
at Atlas Venture, and John Leonard, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at
Intellia.
About Intellia Therapeutics
Intellia Therapeutics was formed in 2014 to lead the industry in one of
the most promising new areas of therapeutic development: gene editing
and repair using CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Intellia holds exclusive access
to one of the most comprehensive intellectual property platforms
available for the therapeutic use of CRISPR-Cas9. The company is
advancing a broad pipeline toward clinical development, including ex
vivo and in vivo approaches. Intellia closed a Series A round
in 2014 led by Atlas Venture and Novartis.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|