BlueRock Therapeutics and Senti Bio Announce Collaboration to Develop Gene Circuit-Engineered Cell Therapies

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., and SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., May 31, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BlueRock (BlueRock Therapeutics LP), a leading engineered cell therapy company operating independently as a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayer AG, and Senti Bio (Senti Biosciences, Inc.), a leading gene circuit company,On May 26Announced a collaboration and option agreement aimed at applying Senti Biosciences' gene circuit technology to the development of BlueRock Therapeutics' next-generation engineered cell therapies. These therapies hold potential across numerous therapeutic areas, including, but not limited to, neurology, cardiology, and immunology within regenerative medicine.

Dr. Emile Nuwaysir, President and Chief Executive Officer of BlueRock Therapeutics, said: “There is a tremendous opportunity in the convergence of cell, gene, and systems biology. By controlling all three dimensions, we believe we can further unlock the cell's intrinsic potential, integrate multiple physiological inputs, and generate robust therapeutic benefits in vivo. We are excited to combine Senti Bio's expertise in gene circuits with BlueRock's deep understanding of engineered cells to enhance the efficacy, precision, and controllability of BlueRock's future cell therapy products.”

Through this collaboration, Senti Bio will develop gene circuits to precisely control cell differentiation and therapeutic payload expression, thereby enhancing BlueRock’s "cell + gene" platform. This will not only accelerate BlueRock’s development of next-generation cell therapies, but also further solidify Bayer’s strategy in the cell and gene therapy sector, bringing BlueRock and Bayer one step closer to their shared ambitious vision: to stand at the forefront of cell and gene therapy innovation, lead advanced technologies, and provide patients with the safest, highest-quality, and most effective treatment options.

Senti Bio is developing its proprietary engineered gene circuits to reprogram cells, enabling them to sense inputs, compute decisions, and execute outputs. The company’s gene circuits in development encompass four core categories: Smart Sensor, Logic Gating, Regulator Dials, and Multi-Arming, each designed to enhance the efficacy, precision, and controllability of cell and gene therapies. These gene circuits are advancing Senti Bio’s pipeline, which is primarily focused on oncology, while also being applicable to cell and gene therapies in other therapeutic areas through potential collaborations.

BlueRock Therapeutics leverages its proprietary "cell + gene" platform to develop engineered cell therapies. Genetically engineered induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provide a highly consistent and unlimited source for allogeneic cell therapies. These cells can be differentiated into a wide range of therapeutic cell types, with the potential to treat diseases across neurological, cardiovascular, and immunological indications. BlueRock Therapeutics plans to utilize Senti Biosciences’ Smart Sensor and Regulator Dial gene circuit technology platform to achieve its goal of developing advanced, cutting-edge engineered cell therapies.

AboutSenti Bio

Our mission is to overcome complex diseases in unprecedented ways through a new generation of smarter therapeutics. To achieve this mission, we are building a synthetic biology platform designed to program next-generation cell and gene therapies using “gene circuits.” Composed of novel, proprietary combinations of DNA sequences, these gene circuits reprogram cells using biological logic to sense inputs, compute decisions, and respond to the cellular environment. We are dedicated to designing gene circuits that enhance the “intelligence” of cell and gene therapies, thereby improving therapeutic efficacy for diseases that currently lack effective treatments. For more information, please visit the Senti Biosciences website.http://www.sentibio.com。

AboutBlueRock

BlueRock Therapeutics is a leading engineered cell therapy company with a mission to develop regenerative medicines for refractory diseases. Its "Gene + Cell" platform simultaneously leverages pluripotent stem cell biology and gene editing to generate, manufacture, and deliver functional engineered cell therapies, thereby enabling an approach where, in theory, any cell in the human body can be manufactured and any gene in the genome can be edited for therapeutic purposes. While the platform holds broad application potential, the company is currently focused on neurology, cardiology, and immunology. In August 2019, Bayer Pharmaceuticals acquired the company in a transaction valued at a total of $1 billion, including upfront and milestone payments. For BlueRock, this marks a new phase in its journey to demonstrate that degenerative diseases are reversible and to deliver its revolutionary novel therapies to patients with urgent unmet needs. For more information, please visitwww.bluerocktx.com。

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements made by the management of the Bayer Group based on current assumptions and forecasts. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors may cause the Company's actual future results of operations, financial position, development, or performance to differ materially from the estimates set forth in the aforementioned forward-looking statements. These factors include those on the official Bayer websitehttp://www.bayer.com/the publicly disclosed reports of Bayer. The Company has no obligation to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.