Intellia Therapeutics

Intellia Therapeutics, Inc.
Company typePublic
IndustryBiotherapeutics
Founded2014; 10 years ago (2014)
Headquarters
Cambridge, Massachusetts
,
United States
Key people
  • John Leonard (president & CEO)
  • Glenn Goddard (CFO)
  • David Lebwohl (EVP)
  • James Basta (EVP)
  • Laura Sepp-Lorenzino (EVP)
RevenueIncrease US$52 million (2022)[1]
Decrease US$−458 million (2022)[1]
Decrease US$−474 million (2022)[1]
Total assetsIncrease US$1.52 billion (2022)[1]
Total equityIncrease US$1.24 billion (2022)[1]
Number of employees
598 (2023)[1]
Websiteintelliatx.com

Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. is an American clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing novel, potentially curative therapeutics leveraging CRISPR-based technologies. The company's in vivo programs use intravenously administered CRISPR as the therapy, in which the company's proprietary delivery technology enables highly precise editing of disease-causing genes directly within specific target tissues. Intellia's ex vivo programs use CRISPR to create the therapy by using engineered human cells to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases.[2]

The CRISPR gene editing system was originally invented by Jennifer Doudna, one of Intellia's scientific founders, (with colleagues at University of California, Berkeley) and Virginijus Šikšnys (with colleagues at Vilnius University). The company has entered into a number of different research and development collaborations with leading and emerging biotechnology companies including Novartis, Regeneron, Avencell, SparingVision, Kyverna, and ONK Therapeutics.

Intellia has two in vivo programs in ongoing clinical trials. NTLA-2001 is an investigational CRISPR therapy candidate for the treatment for ATTR amyloidosis currently in Phase 1 studies.[3] NTLA-2002 is an investigational CRISPR therapy candidate for the treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE) currently in Phase 1 / 2 studies.[4]

Intellia's proprietary non-viral gene knock out platform deploys lipid nanoparticles to deliver to the liver a two-part genome editing system: guide RNA specific to the disease-causing gene and messenger RNA that encodes the Cas9 enzyme, which carries out the precision editing. Intellia also has a number of research programs for in vivo and ex vivo therapeutic candidates with potential applications in diseases including cancer, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, and hemophilia. The company is also working on a variety of additional gene editing technologies including base editing and DNA writing.[5][6]

History

[edit]

Intellia Therapeutics was founded in November 2014 to develop biopharmaceuticals using CRISPR.[7][8]

It was backed by Atlas Venture and Novartis; the founding CEO was Nessan Bermingham from Atlas and the founding CSO was John Leonard, formerly CSO of AbbVie. The academic scientists involved in the founding included Rodolphe Barrangou, Rachel Haurwitz, Luciano Marraffini, Erik Sontheimer, and Derrick Rossi.[7][9] The intellectual property around CRISPR was contested from the beginning; Intellia in-licensed patents from Caribou Biosciences, which had licensed patents from University of California invented by Jennifer Doudna.[10][11][12]

Novartis had funded the Series A round because of its interest in applying CRISPR in CAR-T, and in January 2015 Novartis and Intellia reached a deal through which Novartis obtained rights to use CRISPR for its CAR-T program, and the companies agreed to collaborate on ways to use CRISPR to treat diseases involving hematopoietic stem cells including beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease.[10] Intellia formed a division called eXtellia Therapeutics to manage the CAR-T collaboration with Novartis.[13]

In December 2016, the company moved to its new 80,000 sq. ft. laboratory and office space in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[14] By that time, it had obtained a license for another company's a lipid nanoparticle drug delivery system to help with its efforts to deliver CRISPR drugs to the liver, without being degraded in the bloodstream; at that time it had not disclosed the licensor.[15]

In March 2017 Intellia and Regeneron, partners in co-developing a CRISPR-based treatment for transthyretin amyloidosis, presented data from a gene editing experiment in mice.[16][17] By that time, University of California had lost a challenge to Broad's CRISPR patents, putting Intellia at a disadvantage relative to Editas.[16]

In April 2017 Intellia entered into a partnership with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals under which Regeneron gained the exclusive right to use Intellia's CRISPR platform on up to 10 drug targets, of which up to five could be outside of the liver, and the companies agreed to co-develop other targets. Regeneron paid $75 million upfront, as well as milestones and royalties.[18] The company said it planned to put $10 million of the funds into its bioinformatics program, to help it evaluate targets.[19]

In December 2017 Leonard, who had experience in drug development, took over as CEO.[20]

In October 2019, Intellia named Glenn Goddard as its executive vice president and CFO. Prior to Intellia, Goddard was the CFO at Generation Bio Company and senior vice president of finance at Agios Pharmaceuticals.[21][22]

In October 2020, Jennifer Doudna, one of Intellia's scientific co-founders, was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology. Doudna shared the award with her research collaborator, Emmanuelle Charpentier. This is the first time two women scientists have jointly won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[23]

In June 2021, Intellia made history by announcing interim Phase 1 data for NTLA-2001, demonstrating the ability to precisely edit target cells within the body to treat genetic disease with a single intravenous infusion of CRISPR. This was the first time any human clinical data has been published for an in vivo gene editing therapeutic candidate. The landmark data was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in August 2021.[24]

In September and November 2022, Intellia presented the initial positive clinical data from their second in vivo CRISPR-candidate, NTLA-2002 demonstrating for the first time the potential clinical benefits of a CRISPR-based therapy with initial results now available beyond biomarker data.[25] In January 2024, Intellia laid off 15% of its employees.[26]

Funding

[edit]

In November 2014, Intellia Therapeutics raised $15 million in Series A round.[27] In September 2015, a Series B round secured $70 million.[28] In May 2016, Intellia announced the closing of its initial public offering which raised approximately $112.1 million.[29]: 75 [30] In the course of going public, the company disclosed that it had licensed the lipid drug delivery system from Novartis, and that it involved creating lipid droplets to encapsulate the CRISPR agents.[29]: 10 

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "2022 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 23 February 2023.
  2. ^ "About Intellia". Intellia Corporate Website. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  3. ^ "NTLA-2001 Trial Overview". Clinicaltrials.gov. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  4. ^ "NTLA-2002 Trial Overview". Clinicaltrials.gov. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  5. ^ "Intellia Therapeutics Presents New Data on Expanded Cell Engineering Capabilities Utilizing Base Editors". Globe Newswire. 25 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Intellia Therapeutics Announces Acquisition of Rewrite Therapeutics". Globe Newswire. 23 February 2022.
  7. ^ a b Carroll, John (18 November 2014). "Novartis joins Atlas in launching a CRISPR Cas biotech with a $15M bankroll". FierceBiotech. Framingham, Massachusetts: Questex. Archived from the original on 6 May 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  8. ^ Rockoff, Jonathan (28 June 2015). "Why Gene Editing Has Scientists Excited". Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones Products. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  9. ^ "Intellia Therapeutics Announces Dr. Jennifer Doudna And Dr. Derrick Rossi To Join Company". BioSpace. 22 April 2015. Archived from the original on 27 May 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  10. ^ a b Lash, Alex (7 January 2015). "CART + CRISPR = 1st-Of-Its-Kind Biotech Deal From Novartis, Intellia". Xconomy. Boston, Massachusetts: Brian Caine. Retrieved 10 February 2020. Note - the second page of the article appears here.
  11. ^ Lash, Alex (18 November 2014). "With Atlas Cash and Berkeley Tools, Intellia Joins the CRISPR Fray". Xconomy. Boston, Massachusetts. Retrieved 10 February 2020. Note - the article's second page appears here.
  12. ^ Isaacson, Walter (2021). The Code Breaker. Simon & Schuster. p. 213. ISBN 978-1-9821-1585-2.
  13. ^ Staff (14 January 2016). "Intellia Therapeutics Forms New Division eXtellia for Joint Programs with Novartis". BIO.IT World. Needham, Massachusetts: CHI. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  14. ^ Carlook, Catherine (22 January 2016). "Exclusive: Fast-growing gene-editing biotech expanding near Kendall Square". Boston Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  15. ^ Lash, Alex (1 September 2015). "CRISPR Cash: Intellia The Latest Gene-Editing Firm To Nab Big Money". Xconomy. Boston, Massachusetts. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  16. ^ a b Stendahl, Max (8 March 2017). "Intellia R&D head says new gene-editing data shows path to human trials". Boston Business Journal. American City Business Journals.
  17. ^ Le Page, Michael (2 October 2017). "We're nearly ready to use CRISPR to target far more diseases". New Scientist. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  18. ^ "Regeneron, Intellia Partner to Develop CRISPR/Cas Therapeutics". Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. New Rochelle, New York: Mary Ann Liebert. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  19. ^ Taylor, Nick Paul (6 May 2016). "Intellia set to invest millions in CRISPR informatics platform after nailing upsized IPO". FierceBiotech. Framingham, Massachusetts: Questex. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  20. ^ "Intellia Therapeutics Names John Leonard, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer" (Press release). Intellia Therapeutics. 18 December 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2020.[self-published source]
  21. ^ "Intellia Therapeutics Names Glenn Goddard as New Chief Financial Officer" (Press release). Intellia Therapeutics. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2020 – via GlobeNewswire News Room.
  22. ^ "Intellia Therapeutics Names Glenn Goddard as New Chief Financial Officer". Biotech Finances (in French). 2 November 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  23. ^ Ledford, Heidi (15 October 2020). "Pioneers of revolutionary CRISPR gene editing win chemistry Nobel". Nature. 586 (7829): 346–347. Bibcode:2020Natur.586..346L. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02765-9. PMID 33028993. S2CID 222213702.
  24. ^ Gillmore, Julian (5 August 2021). "CRISPR-Cas9 In Vivo Gene Editing for Transthyretin Amyloidosis". New England Journal of Medicine. 385 (6): 493–502. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2107454. PMID 34215024. S2CID 235722446.
  25. ^ Armstrong, Annalee (12 November 2022). "Intellia is ready to talk 'functional cure' for HAE with interim data in hand for 2nd CRISPR candidate". Fierce Biotech. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  26. ^ "Intellia Therapeutics Highlights its Three-Year Strategic Priorities and Anticipated 2024 Key Milestones". January 4, 2024. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  27. ^ Gormley, Brian (November 18, 2014). "Intellia Therapeutics Raises $15M Series A for Gene Editing Therapies". Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones.
  28. ^ Newsham, Jack (September 1, 2015). "Intellia raises $70 million for gene-editing treatments". Boston Globe.
  29. ^ a b "Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2016". Intellia via SEC Edgar.
  30. ^ Beckerman, Josh (May 6, 2016). "Stock in Biotech Company Intellia Rises 23% After Upsized IPO". Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones.
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