Generation Bio Completes $110 Million Financing to Advance Re-Dosable Gene Therapy Platform

Generation Bio said it closed a $110 million series B financing that will be used to advance the company’s first two therapeutic candidates through preclinical testing, as well as additional programs targeting genetic diseases of the retina, central nervous system, and lungs.

Photo: Geoff McDonough, president and CEO of Generation Bio

Fidelity Management & Research Company led the round with participation from Invus, Deerfield Management Company, Casdin Capital, Foresite Capital, and Leerink Partners’ Affiliates.

Generation Bio is developing its proprietary GeneWave technology to create a new class of genetic medicines that can be titrated to effect and re-dosed to optimally impact each patient’s disease from birth to adulthood with durable transgene expression. These therapies are designed to overcome the immunogenicity associated with viral-vector gene therapies, which has historically limited the number of patients that can be treated and prevented re-dosing.

The company said it has demonstrated durable, dose-dependent expression and the ability to increase expression in the liver with re-dosing in vivo with the GeneWave platform. “This will be a critically important year for us as we develop the GeneWave platform and work towards our first development candidates to address rare diseases of the liver,” said Geoff McDonough, president and CEO of Generation Bio. “The round will also support the development of approaches to deliver ceDNA to other tissues such as the eye, the central nervous system and the lungs.”

“Generation Bio is creating a breakthrough category of therapeutics and is positioned to be a leader in the gene therapy field,” said Jason Rhodes, a partner at Atlas Venture and a founder and chairman of Generation Bio’s board of directors. “We are excited to have this exceptional group of investors join our efforts to create the first-ever genetic medicines with drug-like properties.”

Author: Rare Daily Staff