Intergalactic Therapeutics Launches with $75 Million for Non-Viral Gene Therapies

Intergalactic Therapeutics launched with $75 million in a series A financing from venture capital firm ATP to advance a novel non-viral gene therapy platform.

Photo: Michael Ehlers, founder and CEO of Intergalactic and chief scientific officer and venture partner at ATP

Intergalactic’s breakthrough approach to non-viral gene therapy deploys two proprietary technologies: C3DNA, covalently closed and circular DNA that does not integrate into the genome or lead to adverse immune reactions, permits large gene cargoes, and relies on a cell-free manufacturing process; and COMET, a clinically advanced, pulsed electric field focal gene therapy delivery system.

“Because viral-based gene therapies have technical and clinical limitations, we at ATP created Intergalactic to expand the universe of what is possible in gene therapy,” said Michael Ehlers, founder and CEO of Intergalactic and chief scientific officer and venture partner at ATP. “With our C3DNA format, we can express large genes; we can express multiple genes; we have more capacity, allowing us to design modifications that can program and control gene expression; by mimicking host chromatin, we can achieve persistence of expression with the first dose; and we can re-dose. In addition, C3DNA is highly suitable for multiple advanced delivery technologies, including our COMET delivery system that enables focal gene therapy precisely where it is needed. The Intergalactic team is advancing programs to realize the vast potential of this new platform to treat many diseases that were beyond the reach of gene therapy, until now.”

ATP founded Intergalactic Therapeutics in 2020. The company is developing non-viral gene therapies in ophthalmology, oncology, and respiratory diseases. Potential applications of its technology platform in other areas include cardiology, hepatology, CNS, and musculoskeletal disorders.

“We paired a next-generation synthetic DNA construct with a cutting-edge medical technology that had also emerged in our portfolio, and quickly saw that this combination had the potential to be revolutionary. Thus, Intergalactic was born,” said Seth Harrison, founder and managing partner of ATP.

To produce C3DNA, Intergalactic has developed a proprietary cell-free manufacturing process that avoids potential safety liabilities of more conventional gene therapy technologies and enables more patient doses to be made across more disease types.

Intergalactic recently entered a five-year strategic partnership with Resilience, a differentiated provider of manufacturing solutions for next-generation medicines including cell and gene therapies, under which Resilience will provide cGMP capacity and resources to manufacture C3DNA products for Intergalactic’s first in human clinical trials, and process and analytical development support to advance its novel cell-free manufacturing.

Author: Rare Daily Staff