Intellia Therapeutics has leveraged CRISPR technology to develop a pipeline of experimental gene-editing therapies, making headlines last year with early clinical data demonstrating that its lead program can do its editing work inside a patient’s body. But the biotech is looking to expand its editing capabilities, and it’s betting that the technology of Rewrite Therapeutics will enable it to achieve even more precise edits. Intellia announced on Thursday that it is acquiring Rewrite for $45 million up front.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
CRISPR is used to perform edits at specific locations, cutting through double strands of DNA. These breaks can spark toxic effects. Rewrite’s technology is designed to edit the genome without making such double-stranded breaks. In a 2018 paper published in the journal Cell, the authors explain that the CRISPR-guided therapy, at the time dubbed EvolvR, uses a cutting enzyme with a mutation that that causes it to “only introduce single-stranded nicks, thus preventing toxicity due to double-strand breaks.”
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Intellia said the Rewrite technology, now called Rewriter, can make more precise edits down to individual letters of the genome. The company added that those edits can be made in cells that do not divide—a challenge for some other editing technologies.
As a whole, the genetic medicines field is moving toward more precise editing technologies and many companies are striking deals to add such capabilities. Beam Therapeutics also enables single-letter edits of the genome via its base-editing technology. Nearly a year ago, Beam acquired Guide Therapeutics to gain access to that biotech’s technology, which could enable delivery of its genetic medicines, using lipid nanoparticles, to more tissue types in the body. Last month, Pfizer agreed to pay Beam $300 million up front to begin an alliance developing base-editing medicines for a range of genetic diseases.
Genetic medicines developers are also looking for better ways to deliver gene-editing drugs using adeno-associated viruses. Capsida Biotherapeutics engineers capsids, the protein shells that encapsulate a genetic medicine and deliver it to a target cell. Capsida’s partners include AbbVie and CRISPR Therapeutics; both alliances focus on enabling AAV-based delivery of genetic medicines to central nervous system tissue.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
Intellia is developing therapies for both lipid nanoparticle and AAV delivery. The company said that Rewrite’s technology could be used to potentially deliver medicines using either approach. Depending on the progress of therapies developed with the Rewrite technology, that company’s shareholders could earn up to $155 million in milestone payments payable in a mix of cash and Intellia stock.
Rewrite was cofounded in 2016 based on research conducted at the University of California, Berkeley. Cofounders Shakked Halperin and David Schaffer developed a CRISPR-guided DNA polymerization technology that the company says targets changes in genomes without making double-stranded breaks. The startup operated quietly and was lean, backed by about $2 million led by Civilization Ventures.
“My team and I have been stealthily building Rewrite during the pandemic with the goal of catalyzing a leap in humanity’s ability to eliminate genetic disease at the source by precisely editing patients’ genomes,” Halperin, Rewrite’s CEO, wrote in a LinkedIn post. “This has been a long and winding journey for me personally, starting during my Ph.D.”
Image: vchal, Getty Images
