Cas13(GSU)

Sept. 15, 2022 11:00 UTC BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Carver Biosciences, Inc., a biotech company focused on the development of CRISPR/Cas13 antivirals, today announced the closure of a seed round of funding, led by Khosla Ventures. Carver is focused on using the bacterially derived RNA-directed RNase Cas13 to target respiratory viruses. The company was founded in 2021 by Dr. Cameron Myhrvold, Assistant Professor at Princeton University. Dr. Myhrvold has worked on developing Cas13-based technologies for studying viral host RNAs since 2016, the year the protein was first discovered. Dr. Walter Strapps joined as co-founder and CEO in February of 2022. Dr. Myhrvold will serve as the chair of Carver’s Scientific Advisory Board. “Cas13 opens up a whole new world of possibilities for targeting RNA, much like Cas9 did for targeting DNA," said Dr. Myhrvold. “I’m particularly excited about using Cas13 to treat viral infections, as the vast majority of viruses don’t have FDA-approved therapies or vaccines.” Dr. Strapps is an experienced biotech executive, most recently serving as Chief Scientific Officer at Gemini Therapeutics, a dry age related macular degeneration-focused biotechnology company. Prior to that Dr. Strapps has held various roles leading research efforts in oligonucleotide-based therapeutics, including at Sirna Therapeutics, Merck & Co., Inc and Intellia Therapeutics. “I’m very excited by the potential of Cas13 to treat patients infected with respiratory viruses. Cas13 provides us with a programmable platform to treat various existing viruses and to rapidly respond to new viruses as they occur,” said Dr. Strapps. “Having helped build several therapeutic oligo platforms before, I’m thrilled to bring that experience to a new CRISPR protein.” “We invest in companies early that are bold and have the ability to make a large impact on society,” said Alex Morgan, partner at Khosla Ventures. “The major respiratory viruses with great impact on human health are RNA based and include respiratory syncytial virus, influenza virus, parainfluenza virus, metapneumovirus, rhinovirus, and something everyone can appreciate today, coronavirus. The ability to have a programmable therapy that can respond to newly emergent strains in a highly targeted way would revolutionize our approach to infectious disease, from the common cold to some of the major infectious causes of mortality. This team has a unique set of expertise that can hopefully unlock this potential.” Carver will use the seed funding to conduct initial proof of concept Cas13 experiments in cells and in models of disease at their laboratories in Boston and with CRO partners. Cas13 acts by using sequence specific targeting of mRNA to cleave and specifically degrade the targeted RNA. Similar to Cas9 which targets DNA, Cas13 is part of a bacterial immune system that can be used in mammalian cells. About Carver Biosciences, Inc. Carver is a Boston, MA-based gene therapy company developing CRISPR-based therapies for RNA viruses that infect humans. Carver’s approach is a programmable, platform technology that could offer a generalizable solution for treating many viruses, as targeting is dictated by a guide RNA sequence. The company’s underlying technology was developed by co-founder Dr. Cameron Myhrvold. For additional information, please visit .

With a distinct take on CRISPR technology, Carver Biosciences secured seed financing to support the development of RNA-targeting gene therapies aimed at RNA-based respiratory infectious diseases. The undisclosed financing will further the company’s development of bacterially derived RNA-directed RNase Cas13 to target respiratory viruses. Funds will support initial proof of concept Cas13 experiments in cells and in models of disease, the company stated. The Cas13 protein uses a short segment of RNA to guide itself to mRNA, where it cuts and destroys the mRNA in a sequence-specific fashion. The aim of CRISPR/Cas13 is to destroy these respiratory viruses and prevent them from replicating. The company explained that its gene therapies will act in concert with current vaccination and viral inhibitors to arrest the progression of infection from infections like COVID-19 or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Walter Strapps, company co-founder and CEO, told BioSpace the Cas13-based treatments are designed as an acute treatment of these respiratory viruses when vaccination and other antivirals are not stemming the infection. Strapps said Cas13 provides the company with a programmable platform that will allow it to treat multiple viral threats that are already issues of concern, as well as those that have yet to become widespread issues. He likened it to the siRNA approach used by Intellia Therapeutics, a company focused on CRISPR/Cas9 development. “We feel we’ve got a technology that is going to provide a therapeutic option for patients who have been infected with a respiratory virus and don’t have other options,” Strapps said. Carver’s Cas13 products are being designed as an inhaled treatment, so the therapeutic can get straight to the lungs, where the source of infection is located. However, Strapps noted this delivery approach is still in its early stages, and a significant amount of work needs to be conducted before it will be ready to assess in clinical trials. With the seed funding, Strapps said the company will be able to secure lab space in Boston and begin to scale the team so it can shore up the science and technology. He noted that being in Boston is something of a double-edged sword. While it’s an expensive city to set up shop, Strapps said it’s also a city ripe with talent. Once that has been done, he said the company will be in line to begin raising money in a Series A that will allow it to advance its technology toward the clinic. “The seed has allowed us to get our footing,” Strapps said. “This will allow us to get set up and expand.” Carver was founded last year by Cameron Myhrvold, an assistant professor at Princeton University who has worked on developing Cas13-based technologies for viral host RNAs since 2016, the year the protein was first discovered. According to company data, Cas13 uses sequence-specific targeting of mRNA in order to “cleave and specifically degrade” the targeted RNA. Cas13 is one of the many Cas proteins that are part of a bacterial immune system that can be used in mammalian cells. The function of Cas13 is similar to the more commonly-used Cas9, which targets DNA. “Cas13 opens up a whole new world of possibilities for targeting RNA, much like Cas9 did for targeting DNA," Myhrvold, chairman of the company’s scientific advisory board, said in a statement. “I’m particularly excited about using Cas13 to treat viral infections, as the vast majority of viruses don’t have FDA-approved therapies or vaccines.”