Emendo Biotherapeutics Secures $61 Million Series B Financing to Advance Next-Generation Genome Editing Therapeutics

On January 16, 2020, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned via Business Wire that Emendo Biotherapeutics (“Emendo”), a leader in the field of gene editing, announced the completion of a $61 million Series B financing round. The round was led by the Japanese biopharmaceutical company AnGes.

It is reported that Emendo plans to use the funds from this financing round to advance the development of next-generation genome-editing therapeutics. In addition, the company will establish strategic partnerships with AnGes and Takeda to broadly apply its novel OMNI gene-editing platform across its therapeutic drug development pipeline.

Emendo, founded in 2015 and headquartered in New York, USA, is a biotechnology company. The company leverages synthetic biology and gene editing technologies to develop drugs for treating diseases that are currently difficult to cure. Emendo’s creative team is transforming the field of genome-editing-based medicine through novel CRISPR nucleases, advanced cutting-edge protein engineering platforms, diverse clinical programs, and an extensive product portfolio.

Emendo was founded to explore the possibilities of genome editing, integrating multidisciplinary expertise and employing novel scientific approaches to address core challenges. The founders of Emendo collaborate with top academic institutions such as the Weizmann Institute of Science, leveraging protein engineering and DNA repair technologies to develop gene-editing therapeutics for the treatment of intractable diseases.

Emendo has developed OMNI, a next-generation gene editing platform. Based on synthetic biology for genomic editing, this platform enables precise gene editing while maintaining high efficiency, thereby facilitating the development of therapeutic drugs for a range of genetic disorders, such as severe congenital neutropenia (SCN) caused by mutations in the neutrophil elastase gene ELANE. In 2019, Emendo entered into a collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited to develop new drugs using the OMNI nuclease gene editing program.

Dr. David Baram, President and CEO of Emendo, stated, “This financing provides Emendo with a solid foundation and helps us accelerate the development of our OMNI gene-editing platform, offering broad clinical pathways for genetic diseases. We are deeply grateful for the support of numerous investors and strategic partners, including AnGes, OrbiMed Advisors, OrbiMed Israel Partners, and Takeda Ventures. We look forward to translating powerful scientific technologies into clinical medical outcomes.”

AnGes, a biopharmaceutical company founded in December 1999 by researchers from Osaka University and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is committed to becoming a global leader in the field of gene medicine. The company primarily focuses on the development and commercialization of gene-editing therapies, providing innovative treatments for patients who have hitherto lacked effective therapeutic options.

Currently, AnGes has developed its main products, Naglazyme and HGF plasmid, which can be used to treat mucopolysaccharidosis type VI and severe limb ischemia. The HGF plasmid, a DNA plasmid encoding the human hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene, was approved for marketing in Japan in 2019. In addition, the company is developing NF-κB decoy oligonucleotides (ODNs) as a therapeutic agent for inflammatory diseases, aiming to suppress inflammation in conditions such as atopic dermatitis.

(Compiled by Xu Xiaoxue)