Intellia Therapeutics, Regeneron announce expanded research collaboration

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) and Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) announced an expanded research collaboration to develop additional in vivo CRISPR-based gene editing therapies focused on neurological and muscular diseases. This builds on the success of the companies’ existing collaboration and continues to combine both companies’ deep biology and technology expertise. The collaboration will leverage Regeneron’s proprietary antibody-targeted adeno-associated virus vectors and delivery systems and Intellia’s proprietary Nme2 CRISPR/Cas9 systems adapted for viral vector delivery and designed to precisely modify a target gene. “We are excited to expand our successful collaboration with Regeneron to now accelerate the development of CRISPR-based therapies outside of the liver for the treatment of neurological and muscular diseases with significant unmet need,” said Intellia President and Chief Executive Officer John Leonard, M.D. “At Intellia, we are continuously innovating our editing and delivery solutions to realize the full potential of CRISPR gene editing as a new therapeutic modality. This collaboration is representative of our long-standing belief that the most groundbreaking solutions will come from selecting the best tools for each individual application, all of which are enabled by our industry-leading genome editing toolbox.” Under the terms of the expanded agreement, the companies will initially research two in vivo non-liver targets. Intellia will lead the design of the editing methodology and Regeneron will lead the design of the targeted viral vector delivery approach.