Apertura Gene Therapy Launches with $67 Million Financing

Apertura Gene Therapy, a company with a platform technology for addressing the limitations of the delivery and expression of genetic medicines and developed at the Broad Institute and Harvard University, said it raised $67 million in a series A financing as it announced its launch.

Deerfield Management provided the funding and has also committed additional operational support to further strengthen the company’s ability to advance gene therapy discoveries.

Apertura is founded on a pair of platform technologies developed in the labs of Ben Deverman, senior director of vector engineering and Institute Scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Michael Greenberg, a professor of neurobiology and chair of the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. The company’s platform leverages machine learning and high-throughput assays to engineer novel capsids, gene regulatory elements such as promoters and enhancers, and payloads to simultaneously enhance multiple functions of gene therapies for greater translational potential.

The company said its two technology platforms have unique capabilities to simultaneously engineer AAV capsids to exhibit enhanced cellular tropism and evasion of pre-existing immunity, while maintaining and potentially improving manufacturability. The company’s genetic regulatory elements platform focuses on genetic regulatory elements and enhancers that drive cell type-specific expression, disease state-specific expression, and tunable expression levels.​ These capabilities together are expected to enable Apertura to develop best-in-class gene therapies designed for specific indications.

“With these platform technologies from the Broad Institute and Harvard University, Deerfield saw an opportunity to bring together and support a unique and comprehensive platform that could address technical challenges that have prevented gene therapy from reaching its full potential,” said Dave Greenwald, acting CEO of Apertura and vice president of business development at Deerfield Management. “While next-generation approaches to gene therapy have largely focused on the innovation of delivery vectors, Apertura has the potential to innovate simultaneously across delivery, expression, and payloads.”

Photo: Dave Greenwald, acting CEO of Apertura and vice president of business development at Deerfield Management