Gene therapy is a medical technology that aims to produce a therapeutic effect through the manipulation of gene expression or through altering the biological properties of living cells.
Biogen Inc. is an American multinational biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States specializing in the discovery, development, and delivery of therapies for the treatment of neurological diseases to patients worldwide. Biogen operates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Hurler syndrome, also known as mucopolysaccharidosis Type IH (MPS-IH), Hurler's disease, and formerly gargoylism, is a genetic disorder that results in the buildup of large sugar molecules called glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in lysosomes. The inability to break down these molecules results in a wide variety of symptoms caused by damage to several different organ systems, including but not limited to the nervous system, skeletal system, eyes, and heart.
Hunter syndrome, or mucopolysaccharidosis type II, is a rare genetic disorder in which large sugar molecules called glycosaminoglycans build up in body tissues. It is a form of lysosomal storage disease. Hunter syndrome is caused by a deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme iduronate-2-sulfatase (I2S). The lack of this enzyme causes heparan sulfate and dermatan sulfate to accumulate in all body tissues. Hunter syndrome is the only MPS syndrome to exhibit X-linked recessive inheritance.
Zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) are artificial restriction enzymes generated by fusing a zinc finger DNA-binding domain to a DNA-cleavage domain. Zinc finger domains can be engineered to target specific desired DNA sequences and this enables zinc-finger nucleases to target unique sequences within complex genomes. By taking advantage of endogenous DNA repair machinery, these reagents can be used to precisely alter the genomes of higher organisms. Alongside CRISPR/Cas9 and TALEN, ZFN is a prominent tool in the field of genome editing.
Phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors are a class of medical drugs that are mainly used to treat advanced cancers. They function by inhibiting one or more of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) enzymes, which are part of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. This signal pathway regulates cellular functions such as growth and survival. It is strictly regulated in healthy cells, but is always active in many cancer cells, allowing the cancer cells to better survive and multiply. PI3K inhibitors block the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and thus slow down cancer growth. They are examples of a targeted therapy. While PI3K inhibitors are an effective treatment, they can have very severe side effects and are therefore only used if other treatments have failed or are not suitable.
Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALEN) are restriction enzymes that can be engineered to cut specific sequences of DNA. They are made by fusing a TAL effector DNA-binding domain to a DNA cleavage domain. Transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs) can be engineered to bind to practically any desired DNA sequence, so when combined with a nuclease, DNA can be cut at specific locations. The restriction enzymes can be introduced into cells, for use in gene editing or for genome editing in situ, a technique known as genome editing with engineered nucleases. Alongside zinc finger nucleases and CRISPR/Cas9, TALEN is a prominent tool in the field of genome editing.
Genome editing, or genome engineering, or gene editing, is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted, modified or replaced in the genome of a living organism. Unlike early genetic engineering techniques that randomly inserts genetic material into a host genome, genome editing targets the insertions to site-specific locations. The basic mechanism involved in genetic manipulations through programmable nucleases is the recognition of target genomic loci and binding of effector DNA-binding domain (DBD), double-strand breaks (DSBs) in target DNA by the restriction endonucleases, and the repair of DSBs through homology-directed recombination (HDR) or non-homologous end joining (NHEJ).
Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel cell therapies for unmet medical needs. Lineage’s programs are based on its robust proprietary cell-based therapy platform and associated in-house development and manufacturing capabilities. With this platform Lineage develops and manufactures specialized, terminally differentiated human cells from its pluripotent and progenitor cell starting materials. These differentiated cells are developed to either replace or support cells that are dysfunctional or absent due to degenerative disease or traumatic injury or administered as a means of helping the body mount an effective immune response to cancer.
Betibeglogene autotemcel, sold under the brand name Zynteglo, is a gene therapy for the treatment for beta thalassemia. It was developed by Bluebird Bio and was given breakthrough therapy designation by the US Food and Drug Administration in February 2015.
Arcturus Therapeutics is an American RNA medicines biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapeutics for rare diseases and infectious diseases. Arcturus has developed proprietary lipid nanoparticle RNA therapeutics for nucleic acid medicines including small interfering RNA (siRNA), messenger RNA (mRNA), gene editing RNA, DNA, antisense oligonucleotides, and microRNA.
Editas Medicine, Inc.,, is a clinical-stage biotechnology company which is developing therapies for rare diseases based on CRISPR gene editing technology. Editas headquarters is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has facilities in Boulder, Colorado.
Spark Therapeutics, Inc. is a developer of gene therapy treatments, which treat debilitating genetic diseases. It is a subsidiary of Hoffmann-La Roche.
Intellia Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing novel, potentially curative therapeutics leveraging CRISPR-based technologies. The company's in vivo programs use intravenously administered CRISPR as the therapy, in which the company's proprietary delivery technology enables highly precise editing of disease-causing genes directly within specific target tissues. Intellia's ex vivo programs use CRISPR to create the therapy by using engineered human cells to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Since antiretroviral therapy requires a lifelong treatment regimen, research to find more permanent cures for HIV infection is currently underway. It is possible to synthesize zinc finger nucleotides with zinc finger components that selectively bind to specific portions of DNA. Conceptually, targeting and editing could focus on host cellular co-receptors for HIV or on proviral HIV DNA.
CRISPR Therapeutics AG is a Swiss–American biotechnology company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland. It was one of the first companies formed to utilize the CRISPR gene editing platform to develop medicines for the treatment of various rare and common diseases. The company has approximately 500 employees and has offices in Zug, Switzerland, Boston, Massachusetts, San Francisco, California and London, United Kingdom. Its manufacturing facility in Framingham, Massachusetts won the Facilities of the Year Award (FOYA) award in 2022. The company’s lead program, exagamglogene autotemcel, or exa-cel, was granted regulatory approval in December 2023.
Precision BioSciences, Inc. is a publicly traded American clinical stage gene editing company headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. Founded in 2006, Precision is focused on developing both in vivo and ex vivo gene editing therapies using its proprietary "ARCUS" genome editing platform.
Exagamglogene autotemcel, sold under the brand name Casgevy, is a gene therapy used for the treatment of sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia. It was developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics.
$111.3 million [1] (2022)
$562.5 million [1] (2022)
