Editas Medicine and Genevant Sciences Partner to Develop New mRNA-LNP Gene Editing Therapies

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and VANCOUVER, British Columbia and BASEL, Switzerland, Oct. 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Editas Medicine, Inc. (Nasdaq: EDIT), a company specializing in gene editing at the clinical stage, and Genevant Sciences, a top nucleic acid delivery company with renowned platforms and a significant lipid nanoparticle (LNP) patent portfolio, have announced a new collaboration and nonexclusive license agreement. This partnership aims to merge Editas Medicine’s CRISPR Cas12a gene editing systems with Genevant’s LNP technology to create in vivo gene editing medicines for two undisclosed targets under Editas’ upregulation strategy.

Linda C. Burkly, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Editas Medicine, stated, “Editas has made considerable progress towards our goal of becoming a leader in in vivo programmable gene editing medicine, and we are advancing towards clinical applications as we develop our pipeline of future therapies. When evaluating delivery systems for our in vivo upregulation strategy that would best enhance our gene editing technology, we quickly identified Genevant as a frontrunner in the LNP field, and we are excited to start this collaboration.”

James Heyes, Chief Scientific Officer of Genevant Sciences, added, “We are excited to partner with Editas, a pioneer in gene editing, to develop potentially groundbreaking gene editing treatments. LNPs have become a preferred method for delivering gene editing constructs, and we are enthusiastic about the potential of combining our industry-leading LNP technology with Editas’s innovations in this growing field.”

According to the agreement terms, Genevant has provided Editas with a nonexclusive global license to use specific Genevant LNP technology for mRNA-CRISPR Cas12a-LNP products aimed at two undisclosed targets for designated fields. Genevant stands to receive up to $238 million through upfront and contingent milestone payments, along with tiered royalties on future product sales.

Editas Medicine is a clinical-stage gene editing company dedicated to harnessing the power of CRISPR/Cas12a and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing systems to develop a robust pipeline of treatments for people suffering from serious diseases globally. The company’s mission is to discover, develop, manufacture, and commercialize transformative, long-lasting, precision genomic medicines for a wide range of diseases. Editas Medicine holds the exclusive license to the Broad Institute’s Cas12a patent estate and the Broad Institute and Harvard University’s Cas9 patent estates for human medicines.

Genevant Sciences is recognized as a leader in nucleic acid delivery, boasting world-class platforms and a substantial lipid nanoparticle (LNP) patent portfolio, along with decades of expertise in nucleic acid drug delivery and development. For over 20 years, Genevant’s scientists have been pioneers in the LNP delivery of nucleic acids. Genevant’s LNP platform, which has been evaluated across more than a dozen distinct product candidates and is the technology behind the first and only approved systemic RNA-LNP product (patisiran), supports a wide range of RNA-based applications including vaccines, therapeutic protein production, and gene editing.