RARE Daily

Mammoth Raises $195 Million to Build Next-Generation CRISPR Therapeutics and Diagnostics

September 9, 2021

Rare Daily Staff

Mammoth Biosciences said it has secured $195 million in two financings that will be used to broaden its toolkit of next-generation CRISPR systems with a focus on developing cures through in vivo gene-editing therapeutics and improving disease detection with on-demand diagnostics.

Photo: Jennifer Doudna, Nobel laureate and co-founder of Mammoth Biosciences

Redmile Group led a $150 million series D venture round with participation from Foresite Capital, Senator Investment Group, Sixth Street, Greenspring Associates, Mayfield, Decheng Capital, NFX and Plum Alley, among others. It follows a $45 million Series C in late 2020 that Redmile Group and Foresite Capital led with participation from Amazon as well as existing investors.

Mammoth’s CRISPR platform leverages its toolbox of novel Cas enzymes, driven by its proprietary protein discovery engine which leverages the natural diversity of life. The unique properties of these enzymes—such as their ultra-small size, increased temperature stability, faster reaction kinetics, high fidelity and expanded targeting capabilities—have the potential to create powerful CRISPR-based therapeutics and diagnostics for a wide range of diseases.

This financing will accelerate the growth of Mammoth’s therapeutics pipeline. In particular, Mammoth is focusing on Cas14 and Casɸ, as these families are the smallest known CRISPR systems and Mammoth has pioneered their development to help them overcome many of the hurdles faced by legacy Cas enzymes and facilitate advanced and expanded delivery for in vivo genome editing in diseases.

On the diagnostics front, during the COVID-19 pandemic Mammoth was the first to demonstrate CRISPR-based detection of SARS-CoV-2 in patient samples with its DETECTRTM platform and partnered with NIH RADx, DARPA, GSK, and many others to accelerate the development of diagnostics solutions for a broad spectrum of infectious diseases. The new financing will also continue to fuel Mammoth’s efforts to build decentralized on-demand diagnostics enabling accurate, affordable, and actionable results for patients and consumers.

“Mammoth is pioneering differentiated next-generation CRISPR systems and is in a unique position to enable novel treatment and diagnosis options that could dramatically improve the lives of patients,” said Jennifer Doudna, Nobel laureate and co-founder of Mammoth Biosciences. “An exciting example is Mammoth’s ultra-small CRISPR systems that advance in vivo delivery options that can dramatically improve the lives of patients.”

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