附近上门

Molecular engineering company has completed an oversubscribed $100 million round of Series B financing to further develop its 鈥淐RISPR by design鈥� platform, as well as advance its pipeline of genetic treatments.

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Scribe was founded 鈥渙n paper鈥� in 2017 by molecular engineers , 听补苍诲听, as well as CRISPR co-inventor , who won the , to create advanced technologies for CRISPR-based genetic medicine.

CRISPR stands for 鈥溾�� and enables researchers to more easily identify DNA sequences and modify gene function to develop in vivo therapies that treat the underlying cause of disease, Oakes told 附近上门 News.

鈥淚 started in genome editing a decade ago, and the only way to do this was to build a library of molecules and test every one over and over again,鈥� Oakes said. 鈥淚 was spending 90 hours a week testing, so you can see immediately why CRISPR would be impactful.鈥�

Treating disease

Avoro Ventures and an affiliated company, , led the Series B financing and were joined by and . The syndicate also includes , funds and accounts advised by , and funds managed by , and . To date, the company raised $120 million, which includes a round in 2018 led by Andreessen Horowitz, according to 附近上门 data.

As part of the financing, , managing partner at Avoro Ventures and Avoro Capital Advisors, and , managing partner at OrbiMed Advisors, will join Scribe鈥檚 board of directors.

“Scribe is applying deep, multidisciplinary engineering expertise to develop the custom tools and applications needed to confront genetic diseases,” said Aghazadeh in a written statement.

Meanwhile, , general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, said in a statement that Scribe鈥檚 approach has 鈥渞evolutionized industry expectations for blueprinting and creating CRISPR-based therapies.鈥�

He added: 鈥淏y accelerating the shift from an artisanal discovery approach to a fully industrialized one, the company is poised to fundamentally transform how we treat and manage genetic diseases at scale.鈥�

Use cases

Use cases for CRISPR depend on what the molecule is capable of, Oakes said. They include editing stem cells or T cells to create better stem cells, such as chimeric antigen receptor T cells, better known as CAR-Ts, for use in immunotherapy. The work can be both in vivo or ex vivo, meaning inside or outside an organism.

CRISPR technology is also being used to develop treatments for unmet diseases. In 2020, Scribe began collaborating with as part of a $400 million research project to develop CRISPR-based therapies that address the underlying causes of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

In addition, this week, , a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based genome editing company focused on developing curative therapeutics using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, that the granted orphan drug designation for one of its candidates being developed to treat transthyretin amyloidosis.聽This rare condition impacts organs and tissues through the accumulation of misfolded transthyretin protein deposits. The therapy has the potential to halt and reverse the condition鈥檚 progression, the company said.

The new capital will be used to continue developing Scribe鈥檚 gene-editing system and its delivery technologies, such as how the therapies are delivered into the body to target where needed, as well as to advance a pipeline of therapeutics for neurodegeneration and other diseases.

鈥淓ngineering is a slow process, but each step gets you closer,鈥� Oakes said. 鈥淲e continue to build upon the model to make it better and better. I don鈥檛 want to treat diseases with something meant for another disease. I would like to build the right tools for the job. It allows us to truly bring all of these together to build new ways of modifying biology and applying it.鈥�

Feature photo of Scribe’s leadership team, from left: Benjamin Oakes, Brett Staahl, Svetlana Lucas, Jennifer Doudna and David Savage. Photo courtesy of Scribe Therapeutics.
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