Intellia Therapeutics Launches New Division to Accelerate Ex Vivo Programs with CRISPR/Cas9

Intellia Therapeutics has launched a new division, eXtellia Therapeutics, with the intent of focusing resources and research on ex vivo applications of the novel technology, CRISPR/Cas9. As in vivo and ex vivo programs require different competencies in research, manufacturing and commercialization, eXtellia Therapeutics is being launched to accelerate Intellia’s efforts in areas of significant unmet medical need – immuno-oncology, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases – using an ex vivo approach. Intellia will continue its in vivo programs and strategy through a dedicated scientific team.

“We are excited to announce the establishment of eXtellia, increasing our footprint in ex vivo gene editing for oncology and autoimmune diseases,” said Nessan Bermingham, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Intellia Therapeutics. “eXtellia enables us to bring together the required capabilities needed to take the CRISPR/Cas9 technology beyond Intellia’s emerging in vivo, HSC and CAR-T efforts. We believe eXtellia further positions us to maximize the CRISPR/ Cas9 opportunity to address severe unmet medical needs for patients.”

eXtellia complements Intellia’s five-year collaboration with Novartis, announced in January, 2015, which is focused on CRISPR/Cas9 applications with chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CART)- and Hematopoietic Stem Cell (HSC)-based therapies. Intellia scientists will continue to work closely with Novartis. eXtellia scientists intend to leverage the potential of CRISPR/Cas9 across a variety of immune cells, such as natural killer cells and T-cells, to develop therapies for patients where treatment needs are inadequately addressed.

For ex vivo applications, cells are removed from the patient and edited in culture and then returned to the patient. The in vivo approach packages CRISPR/Cas9 in a delivery vehicle which is administered directly into the patient. CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing holds great promise across a range of therapeutic applications, including autoimmune and blood disorders, cancer and other genetic-based diseases. It has been shown to be an efficient and precise method for gene editing across multiple cell and tissue types, making it an ideal platform for both ex vivo and in vivo applications.

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