Ex­clu­sive: ARCH and GV are build­ing a large start­up fo­cused on mi­to­chon­dr­i­al dis­eases

ARCH Ven­ture and GV, the ven­ture arm of Al­pha­bet, are build­ing a large new com­pa­ny fo­cused on mi­to­chon­dr­i­al dis­eases: rare ge­net­ic ones, ini­tial­ly, but even­tu­al­ly larg­er and more com­plex con­di­tions such Alzheimer’s and Parkin­son’s that are in­flu­enced by the so-called pow­er­house of the cell.

The com­pa­ny, known as Pret­zel Ther­a­peu­tics, will com­bine a suite of dif­fer­ent tech­nolo­gies, in­clud­ing mul­ti­ple types of gene edit­ing and small mol­e­cules meant to in­crease the num­ber of healthy mi­to­chon­dria in a pa­tient. The name de­rives from a pass­ing re­sem­blance be­tween mi­to­chon­dria and pret­zels. (Think warm at the pub, with mus­tard, not Rold Gold.)

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