Tessera Therapeutics - gene writing (Flagship Pioneering, Editas Medicine, Intellia Therapeutics, Casebia Therapeutics, Beam Therapeutics, Seres Therapeutics, Bayer, Moderna)

(May 5, 2015) White-Hot Flagship Ventures Inks Deals With AstraZeneca PLC, Bayer CropScience AG and Nestle SA As VC Roars
White-hot venture capital and venture creation firm Flagship Ventures
is having a stellar week, saying Tuesday it has formed three new strategic partnerships with AstraZeneca PLC ,
Nestlé Health Science and Bayer CropScience, as a raging biotech sector continues to roar.
Flagship’s notable companies are varied and include a stable of at least three VentureLabs companies: Moderna Therapeutics,
which focuses on messenger RNA Therapeutics; Seres Health, studying microbial ecosystems; and Symbiota, pioneering plant microbiome solutions.
biospace.com/article/white-hot-b-flagship-ventures-b-inks-deals-with-astrazeneca-plc-bayer-cropscience-ag-and-nestle-sa-as-vc-roars-/

(July 7, 2020) This Company Wants to Rewrite the Future of Genetic Disease
Tessera has spent the past two years developing a new class of molecular manipulators
capable of doing lots of things Crispr can do—and some that it can’t, including precisely plugging in long stretches of DNA.
It’s not gene editing, says von Maltzahn. It’s “gene writing.”
The company hasn’t yet demonstrated that any of its gene writers can eliminate an inherited disease.
But in mouse models, the team has consistently been able to use them to insert lots of copies
of a large green fluorescent protein gene into the animals’ genomes as a way of proving that they can reliably place designer DNA.
Now, scientists have been making animals artificially glow for decades.
What’s different about Tessera’s method is that company’s scientists only need to inject a bit of RNA to make it happen.
The ability to inject just a piece of RNA, similar to the approach taken by one of the leading Covid-19 vaccinemakers, Moderna,
could make it easier for researchers to go after genetic conditions in which the treatment involves adding big chunks of reparative genetic code.
wired.com/story/this-company-wants-to-rewrite-the-future-of-genetic-disease/

(July 9, 2020) Tessera Therapeutics Aims to Rewrite DNA with New Age Gene Manipulators
Tessera Therapeutics is an early-stage life sciences company that was founded by Geoffrey von Maltzahn, MIT-trained biological engineer,
Jacob Rubens, an MIT trained synthetic biologist and other scientists at Flagship Labs in 2018
with an idea of creating a platform that could design, make, and launch gene writing medicines.
The company holds a 30-person R&D team that has deep genetic medicine
and startup expertise, including alumni from Editas, Intellia, Beam, Casebia, and Moderna.

Tessera’s gene writers are based on two different types of MGEs.
One that can cut itself from its original location and integrate to a different location (transposons)
and second, which can make its copy and transport the copy to a new location, creating a duplicate of itself (retrotransposons).
Guarding the mobile elements are special sequences on either end that defines MGE’s boundaries.
In between the boundaries are the genes for proteins that recognize these boundaries and cut them
when transposon is moving out or copy them via an RNA intermediate into a new location.

Since its inception in 2018, Tessera has been searching genome sequences of thousands of bacterial species
for these mobile genetic elements and modifying them to create new gene editors capable of producing any desired protein.
Following this modification, MGE’s can be administered into desired tissue by lipid nanoparticles or AAV vectors,
which will eventually cut or copy and paste protein-coding DNA pieces in any genomic location.
geneonline.news/en/tessera-therapeutics-aims-to-rewrite-dna-with-new-age-gene-manipulators/

(January 12, 2021) Tessera Therapeutics scores $230M to ramp up 'gene writing' tech to cure disease
Tessera Therapeutics is pioneering “gene writing,” a kind of genetic medicine it hopes will surmount the limitations of gene editing
and gene therapy—and investors have bet more than $230 million on the approach.
At its core, gene writing simply means writing short or long messages into the genome
to treat disease, said Tessera CEO Geoffrey von Maltzahn, Ph.D.
“What that allows is one to be able to cure or prevent a disease from ever happening by writing in the code of DNA,
which of course drives the biology in every single cell in the body,”
he said. Tessera is developing multiple ways to do it.
fiercebiotech.com/biotech/tessera-therapeutics-scores-230m-to-ramp-up-gene-writing-tech-to-cure-disease

(February 24, 2021) Beam Therapeutics Acquires Georgia Tech Spin Out, Seeks Non-Viral Gene Therapy Delivery Vehicles
Months from initiating its first human trial, Beam is covering all its bases for the big day. On 23rd February, it acquired Georgia Tech spinout, Guide Therapeutics,
a company that develops tools used to deliver genetic medications into cells. The $120 million all-stock deal, which Beam completed yesterday, centers on lipid nanoparticle technology
that Guide is building for efficient and far-reaching transport of gene-editing machinery.

Unlike the conventional delivery vehicles that use inactivated adenoviruses, Guide is testing lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) to deliver gene-editing therapies.
These are similar to the ones that Moderna and Pfizer are using for delivering their mRNA vaccines.
But unlike those particles, Guide’s nanoparticles have DNA barcodes.
“DNA barcodes are DNA sequences rationally designed to act as molecular tags for specific nanoparticles.”

This serves two purposes. First, “hundreds of nanoparticles can be screened simultaneously in a single experiment,”
saving time on R&D and accelerating the discovery of new nanoparticles.
Second, it allows researchers to study how these particles are distributed throughout a tissue or organ
and how specific they are for the tissue of interest. According to Guide, its screening platform can perform drug-delivery experiments in vivo
at a rate of 15,000 times higher than a traditional platform.
geneonline.news/en/beam-therapeutics-acquires-georgia-tech-spin-out-seeks-non-viral-gene-therapy-delivery-vehicles/

(March 19, 2021) FUJIFILM and Sana Biotechnology ink agreement to develop iPSC-derived cell therapies
FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics and Sana Biotechnology, a company focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines,
announced that Sana has been granted a non-exclusive right to use FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics’ iPSC platform
for the development of commercial cell therapies. As a treatment modality, cell therapies have the potential to augment, repair, or replace human biology,

including organs, tissues and cells. Under the agreement, FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics grants Sana a non-exclusive license
under intellectual property rights owned or controlled by FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics, and will provide iPSC cell lines
(including research-grade and/or Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)-grade iPSC lines) to Sana.

Sana may use the iPSC cell lines, and exercise the licensed intellectual property rights, for the research and development,
and with respect to GMP-grade cell lines, clinical and commercial manufacture, and commercialization, of cell therapies derived from such lines.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=136218&sid=2

(April 7, 2021) FBluebird's chief medical officer flies the nest to gene writing biotech Tessera
The new biotech, moving up from gene editing to gene writing, has nabbed bluebird’s David Davidson, M.D.,
as its chief medical and development officer just three weeks after his departure, while Flagship Pioneering’s Hari Pujar, Ph.D.,
joins as COO and Moderna and Pfizer vet Lin Guey, Ph.D.
comes on board as SVP of rare disease program strategy and operations.

Davidson comes from being CMO at bluebird bio, having also served stints at Genzyme and GelTex along with his decade at bluebird.
Guey, meanwhile, will oversee Tessera’s genetic medicine programs in rare diseases, bringing more than 13 years of drug development experience
from senior leadership roles at Moderna, Xilio Therapeutics, Shire and Pfizer.
fiercebiotech.com/biotech/bluebird-s-chief-medical-officer-flies-nest-to-gene-writing-biotech-tessera

(June 14, 2021) He authorized Moderna's vaccine 6 months ago. Now, ex-FDA chief Hahn joins biotech's backer
Money and high-profile names, they’re a double threat. Flagship Pioneering, the venture firm behind Moderna,
snagged both during a busy Monday. After raising $2.2 billion in an extension to its seventh fund
Monday morning, Flagship followed up in the afternoon by confirming that ex-FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, M.D.,
will join the biotech incubator in a chief medical officer role.

Hahn led the FDA through the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and made statements that irked scientists,
including his comments on convalescent plasma while standing by former President Donald Trump’s side.
He is now joining Flagship, the venture fund that birthed Moderna, the very company that earned Hahn's nod six months ago.

Under Hahn's watch, the FDA granted emergency use authorization to the company's COVID-19 vaccine
just behind a similar OK for Pfizer and BioNTech's jab. Hahn will help lead Flagship’s nascent Preemptive Medicine
and Health Security business. Flagship founder and CEO Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., is also chairman of Moderna.
With today’s funding, Flagship has a stockpile of cash to support the program, which Hahn begins leading on Wednesday.
fiercebiotech.com/biotech/six-months-after-granting-moderna-covid-19-eua-ex-fda-commish-joins-biotech-s-founding

(June 14, 2021) Investor behind Moderna raises $3.4bn biotech-focused fund
Flagship Pioneering, the venture capital company behind Moderna,
has raised its largest fund as it aims to build the next generation of biotech companies.
The $3.4 billion fund is one of the biggest amassed in the pharmaceutical industry
and comes at a time when investment is flooding into the sector,
fuelled by the numerous early-stage companies racing to make treatments and vaccines to tackle Covid-19.

Flagship’s fund VII comprises $2.2 billion raised from investors this year and $1.2 billion raised in 2020.
The company plans to deploy the cash over the next three years.
Moderna is currently carrying out phase 1 trials of its mRNA technology on HIV and flu.

Flagship has recently expanded by opening an office in London and has hired Lord Ara Darzi,
a former UK health minister, to lead its pre-emptive medicines work.
irishtimes.com/business/health-pharma/investor-behind-moderna-raises-3-4bn-biotech-focused-fund-1.4592833