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14 May 2019Americas

Google fund invests in CRISPR start-up

Alphabet-owned GV (formerly Google Ventures) has invested in Verve Therapeutics, a cardiovascular company developing gene editing therapies aiming to permanently reduce the risk of coronary artery disease.

The $58.5 million series A financing was led by GV, with participation from Arch Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital, and Biomatics Capital. The funds raised will be used to advance the pre-clinical programs through proof-of-concept studies.

Verve has licensed foundational CRISPR patents, including Cas9 and Cas12a (Cpf1), from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Harvard University for human therapeutic applications against certain cardiovascular targets.

The start-up has also entered into a strategic collaboration with Beam Therapeutics. Under the agreement, Verve will receive access to Beam’s base editing, gene editing, and delivery technologies for human therapeutic applications against certain cardiovascular targets.

In a collaboration with Verily, Verve has gained access to Verily’s nanoparticle screening platform to develop and optimise new gene editing delivery vehicles.

“Coronary artery disease is a true pandemic and a growing health crisis,” said Sekar Kathiresan, co-founder and incoming CEO of Verve.

Kathiresan added: “Our genetic understanding of coronary artery disease, combined with increasing sophistication of gene editing technologies, have aligned to create a transformative moment in the treatment of this disease.”

Existing treatments to prevent coronary artery disease, such as cholesterol-lowering statins, face challenges due to poor adherence, high cost, and limited access to these medicines, said the release from Verve.

Gene editing technologies, such as CRISPR, have the potential to change those outcomes.

Krishna Yeshwant, general partner at GV and board member of Verve, said: “Verve is taking an unparalleled approach to the prevention of coronary artery disease by leveraging two of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the last decade — human genetics and genome editing.”

Yeshwant added that Verve has the potential to address the number one leading cause of death in the world, “unlike anything we’ve seen before”.

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More on this story

Americas
17 October 2018   The US Food and Drug Administration has allowed the first US-based human trial of CRISPR, the gene-editing technology, to proceed.
Americas
17 April 2019   The University of Pennsylvania has treated two cancer patients with CRISPR/Cas 9, a gene-editing technology that allows precise modifications to DNA.