
IL-2 without the toxic side effects? Orbimed backs the idea in Synthorx' $63M round
A startup in San Diego that’s boldly re-writing the code for life by expanding the genetic “alphabet” just got a big infusion of cash from Orbimed. The company, called Synthorx, raised $63 million on the promise of potential therapies built on breakthroughs in synthetic biology.
Synthorx is building its tech on work pioneered by Floyd Romesberg, a professor at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, who found a way to extend the genetic alphabet. In addition to the natural DNA base pairs A-T and G-C, Romesberg developed a third, synthetic base pair coined X-Y. The extra pair creates a huge opportunity to tweak proteins, as they can be built with up to 172 amino acids instead of the measly 20 available with natural base pairs.
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