Tessera Therapeutics has entered into an agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to jointly fund the company’s in vivo program for sickle cell disease.
The funding includes an initial investment, with potential total investment of up to $50 million from the foundation to bring Tessera's sickle cell program into the clinic.
Tessera’s proprietary Gene Writer platform for sickle cell is designed to enable a true correction of the sickle mutation to wild-type with one-time intravenous administration in vivo, without the need for complex stem cell mobilization or toxic chemotherapy conditioning. Critical in enabling in vivo therapies, Tessera is leveraging its proprietary non-viral delivery platform to develop lipid nanoparticles targeting delivery of Gene Writers to long-term hematopoietic stem cells.
The Massachusetts-based biotech’s Gene Writing platform is designed to write therapeutic messages into the genome by efficiently changing single or multiple DNA base pairs, precisely correcting insertions or deletions, or adding exon-length sequences and whole genes. The company’s lipid nanoparticle delivery platform is designed to enable the in vivo delivery of RNA to targeted cell types. Used together, Tessera plans to develop genetic medicines to not only cure diseases that arise from errors in a single gene but also modify inherited risk factors for common diseases and create engineered cells to treat cancer and potentially autoimmune diseases.
Tessera was founded in 2018 by life sciences venture capital company, Flagship Pioneering.
Subscribe to our e-Newsletters
Stay up to date with news, articles and insights relevant to cell and gene therapy development and manufacturing. Plus, get special offers from Cell & Gene Therapy Review delivered right to your inbox!
Sign up now!