Engineered Human Therapies
Scribe Therapeutics Raises $100M Series B Financing to Further Develop “CRISPR by Design” Platform and Pipeline of Breakthrough Genetic Medicines
Apr 13, 2021
Molecular engineering company’s fully integrated evergreen platform accelerates the development of best-in-class in vivo therapies that treat the underlying cause of disease
March 31, 2021 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scribe Therapeutics Inc., a molecular engineering company creating the most advanced technologies for CRISPR-based genetic medicine, today announced the completion of an oversubscribed $100M Series B financing. Avoro Ventures and Avoro Capital Advisors led the financing joined by OrbiMed Advisors and Andreessen Horowitz. Perceptive Advisors, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., funds managed by Wellington Management, RA Capital Management, Menlo Ventures, and an undisclosed global investment firm also joined the syndicate. As part of the financing, Behzad Aghazadeh, managing partner at Avoro Ventures and Avoro Capital Advisors, and Carl L. Gordon, managing partner at OrbiMed Advisors, will join Scribe’s Board of Directors.
The capital will be used to further develop Scribe’s suite of custom gene editing and delivery technologies, as well as to advance a pipeline of therapeutics for neurodegeneration and additional diseases with high unmet need.“Scribe’s engineering-first philosophy has resulted in a uniquely flexible platform for imagining and creating a new era of CRISPR-based therapies to elevate the standard of care for thousands of patients,” said Jennifer Doudna, co-inventor of CRISPR technology, Nobel Laureate, and co-founder of Scribe Therapeutics.Founded to address the issues of safety, delivery, poor editing outcomes, and an uncertain intellectual property landscape that limit current CRISPR technologies, Scribe’s evergreen engineering platform creates custom molecules specifically designed for therapeutic use within the human body. The company's unmatched expertise and track record in CRISPR and protein engineering have allowed it to hone its fully integrated and proprietary CRISPR technologies for efficacy, specificity, and deliverability.“We are building a future where treating the underlying causes of disease will be achieved by best-in-class, custom engineered technologies,” said Benjamin Oakes, CEO and co-founder of Scribe Therapeutics. “With molecular engineering at our core, we aim to move beyond discovery towards scalable biological design that can precisely address previously intractable genetic maladies.”To date, Scribe has engineered CRISPR enzymes found in nature into millions of novel variants with ideal therapeutic attributes to enable highly effective and specific in vivo applications. The company continues to engineer additional technologies as part of its continually expanding integrated platform while developing its pipeline to target various areas of unmet need."Scribe is applying deep, multidisciplinary engineering expertise to develop the custom tools and applications needed to confront genetic diseases," said Behzad Aghazadeh, managing partner at Avoro Ventures and Avoro Capital Advisors. "We are pleased to support Scribe's accomplished leadership team in their continued growth of the platform and their dedication to fulfilling the promise of CRISPR gene editing."As part of a $400M research collaboration with Biogen that has been underway since 2020, Scribe is developing CRISPR-based therapies that address the underlying causes of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The company is currently exploring additional therapeutic targets and partnership opportunities.“Scribe’s engineering approach has revolutionized industry expectations for blueprinting and creating CRISPR-based therapies,” said Vijay Pande, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “By accelerating the shift from an artisanal discovery approach to a fully industrialized one, the company is poised to fundamentally transform how we treat and manage genetic diseases at scale.”Scribe was founded by leading molecular engineers Benjamin Oakes, Brett Staahl, David Savage, and 2020 Nobel Laureate and CRISPR co-inventor Jennifer Doudna.To learn more about Scribe’s technology, industry partnership opportunities, and careers, visit www.scribetx.com.About Scribe TherapeuticsScribe Therapeutics is a molecular engineering company focused on creating best-in-class in vivo therapies that permanently treat the underlying cause of disease. Founded by CRISPR inventors and leading molecular engineers Benjamin Oakes, Brett Staahl, David Savage, and Jennifer Doudna, Scribe is overcoming the limitations of current genome editing technologies by developing custom engineered enzymes and delivery modalities as part of a proprietary, evergreen platform for CRISPR-based genetic medicine. The company is backed by leading individual and institutional investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Avoro Ventures and Avoro Capital Advisors, OrbiMed Advisors, Perceptive Advisors, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., funds managed by Wellington Management, RA Capital Management, and Menlo Ventures. To learn more about Scribe’s mission to rewrite the story of disease, visit www.scribetx.com.
