Grants for companies fighting HIV, neurodegenerative diseases and drug resistance

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29.12.2020
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Recently CRSPR Therapeutics, AC Immune and Polyphor announced the receipt of grants. Crispr Therapeutics is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, AC Immune by Target ALS and Polyphor by CARB-X.

CRISPR Therapeutics received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to research in vivo gene editing therapies for the treatment of HIV. The grant builds upon CRISPR Therapeutics’ proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology and expertise in editing hematopoietic stem cells and contributes to efforts to accelerate transformative medicines for global health.

“While we have demonstrated the promise of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing ex vivo in sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, an in vivo approach to editing hematopoietic stem cells could allow the transformative benefit of CRISPR/Cas9 to reach a broader array of patients, including those in low resource settings that lack sufficient infrastructure for stem cell transplantation,” said Tony Ho, M.D., Executive Vice President and Head of Research & Development at CRISPR Therapeutics. “We look forward to working on new therapies that could contribute to the global effort to reduce the burden of HIV.”

Diagnostics for neurodegenerative diseases

AC Immune, a Swiss-based, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a broad pipeline focused on neurodegenerative diseases, received a highly competitive grant awarded by Target ALS. The grant provides USD 600,000 in funding to support a world-class collaboration between AC Immune and Massachusetts General Hospital. It will accelerate the development of the Company’s proprietary immuno-assays to detect disease-associated forms of TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) in cerebrospinal fluid and blood samples. The pathological aggregation of TDP-43 is strongly associated with motor and cognitive decline and episodic memory loss in several neurodegenerative diseases

AC Immune’s SupraAntigen-based detection assays for aggregation-prone forms of TDP-43 in biofluids have the potential to serve as an early-stage diagnostic that may enable the development of precision medicine approaches for these diseases as well as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), where pathological aggregation of TDP-43 has emerged as an important co-pathology linked to disease severity.

Antibodies targeting multi-drug resistant pathogens

Polyphor received an additional USD 2.3 million award from CARB-X to support the ongoing development of a new class of antibiotics targeting multi-drug resistant Gram-negative pathogens. The grant will support the development of Polyphor's novel OMPTA (Outer Membrane Protein Targeting Antibiotics) BamA program. The OMPTA-BamA program addresses the deadliest and most resistant Gram-negative bacterial pathogens, potentially active against all three critical priority 1 pathogens in the World Health Organization (WHO) list.

(Press release / SK)

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