From mice to dogs, and some­day man: George Church's gene ther­a­py cock­tail for ag­ing-re­lat­ed dis­eases

George Chruch Re­ju­ve­nate

Emerg­ing gene-ther­a­py tech­nol­o­gy could help dogs live health­i­er, if not longer, lives as man’s best friend.

A start­up called Re­ju­ve­nate Bio — launched out of George Church’s lab at Har­vard Med­ical School (HMS) and the Wyss In­sti­tute for Bi­o­log­i­cal­ly In­spired En­gi­neer­ing at Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty — on Thurs­day, with big plans to make work on gene ther­a­py tech­nol­o­gy en­gi­neered to pre­vent and treat a slew of age-re­lat­ed dis­eases in dogs and ex­tend their healthspan.

“Sci­ence hasn’t yet found a way to make com­plex an­i­mals like dogs live for­ev­er, so the next best thing we can do is find a way to main­tain health for as long as pos­si­ble dur­ing the ag­ing process,” said Church in a re­port by the Wyss In­sti­tute.

As we age, the propen­si­ty to be af­flict­ed with dis­ease(s) ris­es. But dis­eases are typ­i­cal­ly re­searched and treat­ed in­di­vid­u­al­ly, and the ex­ist­ing ar­ma­men­tar­i­um of treat­ments does not ac­com­mo­date the in­ter­con­nect­ed­ness of ill­ness­es that arise in lock­step with age. So, Har­vard re­searchers took a macro-lev­el ap­proach to the prob­lem of age-re­lat­ed dis­eases and de­vel­oped a gene ther­a­py fo­cused on a tri­fec­ta of longevi­ty as­so­ci­at­ed genes: FGF21, αK­lotho and sTGF𝝱R2 — which have pre­vi­ous­ly been shown to be as­so­ci­at­ed with in­creased health and lifes­pan ben­e­fits in mice that were ge­net­i­cal­ly en­gi­neered to over­ex­press them.

“We be­lieve that gene ther­a­py is a great tool for ac­tu­al­ly go­ing af­ter chron­ic age-re­lat­ed con­di­tions, par­tic­u­lar­ly if you have tar­get sets that have re­al­ly strong safe­ty pro­files,” Re­ju­ve­nate CEO Daniel Oliv­er said in an in­ter­view with End­points News.

“The genes we’re us­ing in­side of our gene ther­a­pies have been shown in trans­genic mouse mod­els to ex­tend their life. And so we have built-in safe­ty pro­files for the genes we’re us­ing — we have three-plus years of safe­ty da­ta in mice be­fore we even start.”

Noah David­sohn Re­ju­ve­nate

The re­searchers cre­at­ed sep­a­rate gene ther­a­py de­liv­ery ve­hi­cles for each gene us­ing a serotype of ade­no-as­so­ci­at­ed virus (AAV8) and then in­ject­ed the AAV con­structs in­to mouse mod­els of obe­si­ty, type II di­a­betes, heart fail­ure, and re­nal fail­ure to as­sess ef­fi­ca­cy.

The da­ta were strik­ing. FGF21 alone caused a com­plete re­ver­sal of weight gain and type II di­a­betes in obese, di­a­bet­ic mice fol­low­ing a sin­gle shot, and a com­bi­na­tion with sTGF𝝱R2 al­so di­min­ished kid­ney at­ro­phy by 75% in mice with re­nal fi­bro­sis. The gene sTGF𝝱R2 alone and in com­bi­na­tion with ei­ther of the oth­er two gene ther­a­pies im­proved heart func­tion in mice with heart fail­ure, sug­gest­ing that that co-ad­min­is­tra­tion of FGF21 and sTGF𝝱R2 could treat all four age-re­lat­ed con­di­tions.

To be sure, in this ini­tial study in mice the in­ject­ed genes did not stray in­to the an­i­mals’ genomes and did not mod­i­fy their nat­ur­al DNA — which is a con­cern giv­en the ex­ist­ing eu­genic prac­tices preva­lent in the pet in­dus­try.

Re­ju­ve­nate Bio on Thurs­day un­veiled plans to kick off a pi­lot study test­ing the ef­fi­ca­cy of this gene ther­a­py tech­nol­o­gy in ar­rest­ing mi­tral valve dis­ease, which af­fects most Cav­a­lier King Charles spaniels by age eight and caus­es heart fail­ure.

The plan is to en­roll 10 dogs with mi­tral valve dis­ease, in­ject them with the gene ther­a­py, and as­sess whether they progress to the next stage of the dis­ease over a giv­en pe­ri­od, Oliv­er said. This pi­lot study — which will take at least a year to read­out — will serve as a lit­mus test for an an­i­mal drug tri­al with the FDA, which tends to take about three years to com­plete. If all goes well, the com­pa­ny hopes to ex­pand the treat­ment to all ca­nine breeds, as more than 7 mil­lion dogs in the Unit­ed States suf­fer from mi­tral valve dis­ease.

“We want to get rid of the mor­bidi­ties as­so­ci­at­ed with ag­ing, so dogs can be as hap­py and healthy as pos­si­ble through­out their lives,” said Re­ju­ve­nate Bio’s chief tech­nol­o­gy of­fi­cer Noah David­sohn, who is a for­mer Re­search Sci­en­tist at the Wyss In­sti­tute and HMS. David­sohn’s dog, named Bear, serves as Re­ju­ve­nate’s “chief in­spi­ra­tion of­fi­cer.”

Bear David­sohn Re­ju­ve­nate

The first crop of FDA-ap­proved gene ther­a­pies for hu­mans — such as Spark Ther­a­peu­tics’ Lux­tur­na and No­var­tis’ Zol­gens­ma — treat rare dis­eases. If Re­ju­ve­nate’s ther­a­py is found to be safe and ef­fec­tive in dogs, it could open the door to sim­i­lar ther­a­pies for age-re­lat­ed ill­ness­es and in­deed ag­ing in hu­mans, a field that has at­tract­ed an ex­plo­sion of in­ter­est and fund­ing.

Al­though ear­ly, the study in mice showed that these so-called longevi­ty gene ther­a­pies can be com­bined in­to a sin­gle ther­a­peu­tic mix­ture — com­pared to the tra­di­tion­al par­a­digm that dic­tates dif­fer­ent dis­eases ne­ces­si­tate mul­ti­ple in­ter­ven­tions (and ar­guably ac­cu­mu­la­tive ex­po­sure to side-ef­fects), the re­searchers con­clud­ed.

In tan­dem with the ex­cite­ment that came in re­ac­tion to the FDA ap­proval of pi­o­neer­ing hu­man gene-ther­a­pies was the push­back on what some crit­ics call as­tro­nom­i­cal prices.  Zol­gens­ma, for in­stance, is the world’s most ex­pen­sive ther­a­py at $2.1 mil­lion a pop, al­though its mak­er No­var­tis in­sists its cu­ra­tive po­ten­tial and in­stall­ment-based pric­ing makes it worth it. The com­pa­ny has al­so ini­ti­at­ed a con­tro­ver­sial lot­tery scheme to give away 100 dos­es of Zol­gens­ma in coun­tries out­side the Unit­ed States where it is not yet ap­proved.

“I think go­ing for­ward as gene ther­a­py is ap­plied to dis­eases with much high­er preva­lence — you will see the price come down,” Oliv­er said.

Mean­while, the in­ter­est in treat­ing dis­eases in pets — if their hu­man own­ers may be so in­clined — is on the rise, giv­en that 67% of US house­holds, or about 85 mil­lion fam­i­lies, own a pet, ac­cord­ing to the 2019-2020 sur­vey con­duct­ed by the Amer­i­can Pet Prod­ucts As­so­ci­a­tion.

For in­stance, to treat dis­eases like can­cer in dogs — surgery, chemother­a­py, or ra­di­a­tion are ex­ist­ing al­ter­na­tives. But tar­get­ed ther­a­pies are the next fron­tier. A Sil­i­con Val­ley start­up — called the One Health Com­pa­ny — raised $5 mil­lion last month to help fig­ure out which hu­man treat­ments can be re­pur­posed for their ca­nine coun­ter­parts. The com­pa­ny, which likened its tech­nol­o­gy to Foun­da­tion Med­i­cine’s next-gen­er­a­tion se­quenc­ing pan­el in an in­ter­view with STAT, helps se­quence the dog’s tu­mor and gen­er­ates rec­om­men­da­tions for treat­ment.

Has the mo­ment fi­nal­ly ar­rived for val­ue-based health­care?

RBC Capital Markets’ Healthcare Technology Analyst, Sean Dodge, spotlights a new breed of tech-enabled providers who are rapidly transforming the way clinicians deliver healthcare, and explores the key question: can this accelerating revolution overturn the US healthcare system?

Key points

Tech-enabled healthcare providers are poised to help the US transition to value, not volume, as the basis for reward.
The move to value-based care has policy momentum, but is risky and complex for clinicians.
Outsourced tech specialists are emerging to provide the required expertise, while healthcare and tech are also converging through M&A.
Value-based care remains in its early stages, but the transition is accelerating and represents a huge addressable market.

Clay Siegall, Morphimmune CEO

Up­dat­ed: Ex-Seagen chief Clay Sie­gall emerges as CEO of pri­vate biotech

Clay Siegall will be back in the CEO seat, taking the helm of a private startup working on targeted cancer therapies.

It’s been almost a year since Siegall resigned from Seagen, the biotech he co-founded and led for more than 20 years, in the wake of domestic violence allegations by his then-wife. His eventual successor, David Epstein, sold the company to Pfizer in a $43 billion deal unveiled last week.

Endpoints News

Keep reading Endpoints with a free subscription

Unlock this story instantly and join 163,600+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it's free.

Zhi Hong, Brii Biosciences CEO

Brii Bio­sciences stops man­u­fac­tur­ing Covid-19 an­ti­body com­bo, plans to with­draw EUA re­quest

Brii Biosciences said it will stop manufacturing its Covid-19 antibody combination, sold in China, and is working to withdraw its emergency use authorization request in the US, which it started in October 2021.

The Beijing and North Carolina biotech commercially launched the treatment in China last July but is now axing the work and reverting resources to other “high-priority programs,” per a Friday update. The focus now is namely hepatitis B viral infection, postpartum depression and major depressive disorders.

Endpoints News

Keep reading Endpoints with a free subscription

Unlock this story instantly and join 163,600+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it's free.

Sergio Traversa, Relmada Therapeutics CEO

Rel­ma­da makes 'crit­i­cal changes' to PhI­II tri­al to try and save de­pres­sion drug

Relmada Therapeutics is making changes to its Phase III study of its lead drug for major depressive disorder, in an attempt to avoid problems with a prior trial that showed little difference between the drug and a placebo.

That failure in October wiped 80% from Relmada’s stock price, and was followed by another negative readout a few months later. In both cases, the company said that there had been trial sites that were associated with what it called surprising placebo effects that skewed the results compared with the drug, REL-1017.

Endpoints News

Keep reading Endpoints with a free subscription

Unlock this story instantly and join 163,600+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it's free.

Peter Hecht, Cyclerion Therapeutics CEO

Hard pressed for cash, Cy­cle­ri­on looks for help fund­ing rare dis­ease drug

Cyclerion Therapeutics may have the design of a Phase IIb study ready to go, but it’s scrambling for a way to fund it.

The company said in a press release that it’s “actively evaluating the best combination of capital, capabilities, and transactions available to it to advance the development of zagociguat,” its lead candidate for a rare, genetic mitochondrial disease known as MELAS.

In a separate SEC filing, Cyclerion once again flagged “substantial doubt about (its) ability to continue as a going concern.” As of the end of 2022, it had cash and cash equivalents of only $13.4 million.

FDA ad­vi­sors unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend ac­cel­er­at­ed ap­proval for Bio­gen's ALS drug

A panel of outside advisors to the FDA unanimously recommended that the agency grant accelerated approval to Biogen’s ALS drug tofersen despite the drug failing the primary goal of its Phase III study, an endorsement that could pave a path forward for the treatment.

By a 9-0 vote, members of the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee said there was sufficient evidence that tofersen’s effect on a certain protein associated with ALS is reasonably likely to predict a benefit for patients. But panelists stopped short of advocating for a full approval, voting 3-5 against (with one abstention) and largely citing the failed pivotal study.

Endpoints News

Keep reading Endpoints with a free subscription

Unlock this story instantly and join 163,600+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it's free.

Geoff McDonough, Generation Bio president and CEO

Mod­er­na part­ners on non-vi­ral gene ther­a­py with Gen­er­a­tion Bio af­ter swing­ing gene edit­ing deals

Moderna has inked a five-year partnership with gene therapy biotech Generation Bio, it announced Thursday morning, wading deeper into the genetic medicines space as it navigates beyond its vaccine work.

Moderna will pay Generation Bio $40 million upfront and invest another $36 million into the gene therapy biotech. In exchange, Moderna can license Generation Bio’s non-viral gene therapy platforms for two immune cell programs and two liver programs, with an option for a fifth program. Moderna will fund all the research work under the partnership, and could be on the hook for milestone, fee and royalty payments totaling up to $1.8 billion, a company spokesperson tells Endpoints News.

Endpoints News

Keep reading Endpoints with a free subscription

Unlock this story instantly and join 163,600+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it's free.

Steven James, Pionyr Immunotherapeutics CEO

Gilead pass­es on ful­ly ac­quir­ing Pi­o­nyr, as eyes now turn to Tizona, a fel­low sum­mer 2020 buy­out op­tion

Gilead and Pionyr Immunotherapeutics, a biotech trying to follow up on the first generation of checkpoint inhibitors, have “mutually agreed” on a rewrite to their 2020 terms, with Gilead deciding not to buy out the company.

The California biopharma waived its option to acquire the remaining 50.1% of Pionyr, which would have triggered a $315 million upfront payment and up to $1.15 billion down the road. Had Gilead waited to decide, the drugmaker would have had a potential payment to make in the near term under their agreement, a spokesperson said in an email to Endpoints News.

Endpoints News

Keep reading Endpoints with a free subscription

Unlock this story instantly and join 163,600+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it's free.

Paul Song, NKGen Biotech CEO

NK cell ther­a­py-fo­cused biotech eyes SPAC deal

A small, Santa Ana-based biotech created in 2017 is looking to enter a SPAC deal as it lays out plans to begin trials in its lead cell therapy candidates and bring on new executives.

Graf Acquisition Corp. IV and NKGen Biotech announced Thursday, with few other details, that the two companies signed a non-binding letter of intent to “pursue a business combination.” Graf Acquisition II and III withdrew their IPOs last year.