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Here’s the 13-slide pitch deck ReCode Therapeutics used to raise $120 million from OrbiMed and Pfizer to develop new mRNA medicines
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- The genetics company ReCode Therapeutics just raised $120 million in an extended Series B round.
- The startup creates lipid nanoparticles, like the ones used in the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
- ReCode is developing ways to deliver genetic treatments to organs like the lungs and brain.
Amid a severe downturn in the biotech market, the startup ReCode Therapeutics just raised $120 million to advance its plans of unlocking the next wave of messenger-RNA medicines beyond COVID-19 vaccines.
The Menlo Park, California- and Dallas-based biotech has been developing a unique technology that can deliver genetic information like mRNA to new organs, paving the way to treat more diseases. ReCode aims to start human testing by next year with its first drug candidate, which uses its technology called SORT, or selective organ targeting.
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“The administration of billions of doses of COVID vaccines is heralding a new era for genetic medicines,” ReCode CEO Shehnaaz Suliman told Insider. “We are thrilled and excited to be at the cusp of innovation for genetic-medicine delivery.”
ReCode’s specialty is lipid nanoparticles, or the tiny balls of fat used to deliver certain genetic medicines. LNPs have most notably been used in the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, where the mRNA molecules that instruct cells to produce the spike protein are enclosed in these lipid containers. Because of their chemical makeup, LNPs typically wind up in the liver. While that’s great for tackling liver diseases, researchers hope new LNPs that go to other organs could unlock more treatments.
ReCode’s SORT technology is designed to help these delivery vessels reach more organs and types of cells. Its lead programs are focused on respiratory diseases — primary ciliary dyskinesia and cystic fibrosis. It’s also researching diseases of the spleen and brain. The biotech plans to file its first Investigational New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration in the fourth quarter of this year. If regulators accept that application, ReCode could start dosing its first patients.
The biotech’s latest cash infusion came from extending its Series B round, which brought in $80 million in October. Extending a Series B is an unusual approach, but Suliman said it allowed the company to raise more cash to fuel its research at the same valuation. After the October round, ReCode’s valuation was $372 million, according to PitchBook; Suliman said that figure was “in the right ballpark.” The company has attracted a mix of biotech specialist investors, like OrbiMed and EcoR1 Capital, and corporate venture arms of drug giants like Pfizer, Bayer, and Sanofi.
“The appetite to invest in good science, even in this market, is still there,” Suliman said. “There is now a widespread understanding and appreciation for the fact that packaging matters.”
See the 13-slide pitch deck ReCode used to raise money from VCs including OrbiMed and Pfizer.
After raising an initial $80 million Series B round in October, ReCode started raising an extension of that round in mid-April.
The biotech specializes in “superior delivery” of genetic medicine like mRNA by designing the packaging that guides medicine into the body.
ReCode’s platform is called SORT, or selective organ targeting. While lipid nanoparticles are typically made up of four lipids, ReCode adds a fifth lipid that enables them to get into other organs.
Shehnaaz Suliman joined the biotech as its CEO in January, replacing David Lockhart, who became the chief scientific officer.
ReCode’s SORT technology came out of Daniel Siegwart’s lab at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Siegwart’s research first gained attention in April 2020 with a publication in Nature Nanotechnology. Siegwart is now a scientific advisor to ReCode.
Siegwart’s lab, and now ReCode, has tested thousands of lipids to add to an LNP. Animal studies show promise in targeting the lungs, spleen, and liver. The fifth lipid varies based on which organ is being targeted.
LNPs are fatty balls that bind to receptors on the outside of the cell and are then brought into the cell. The cargo inside the LNP, like messenger RNA, can then be released and instruct that cell to make a certain protein that can help treat diseases from inside the body.
In a proof-of-concept experiment, ReCode’s LNPs were successful in delivering the light-producing enzyme luciferase into the lungs of mice, dogs, and monkeys.
Suliman said the additional capital would support two priorities: entering the clinic and expanding the platform. ReCode is researching more SORT lipids that could reach heart, the brain, or muscle cells.
ReCode’s most advanced drug candidate targets primary ciliary dyskinesia, a rare respiratory disease. The biotech plans to apply to start human testing later this year.
The additional financing will support ReCode’s growth plans, providing enough cash to take it through 2024.
ReCode has 70 employees with plans to grow to about 100 workers in the next six to 12 months, Suliman said.