![]() The company, founded in 2018 by Boston-based biotech investing powerhouse Flagship Pioneering, where von Maltzahn is a general partner, emerged from stealth on Tuesday with $50 million in initial financing. Not anymore, says Geoffrey von Maltzahn, the CEO of a new startup called Tessera Therapeutics. And if you need to insert a lot of DNA, well, you’re kind of out of luck. If you want to replace a faulty gene with a healthy one, you need a different tool. But it won’t work for a lot of other inherited conditions. It’s a clever way around Crispr’s limitations. In Gray’s case, the gene editor built by Crispr Therapeutics intentionally crippled a regulatory gene in her bone marrow cells, boosting production of a dormant, fetal form of hemoglobin, and overcoming a mutation that leads to poor production of the adult form of the oxygen-carrying molecule. Yet for all its DNA-snipping precision, Crispr is best at breaking DNA. And with dozens more clinical trials currently in progress, Crispr is just getting started. ![]() But as the first person with a genetic disorder to be successfully treated with Crispr in the US, it’s a huge milestone. Researchers say it’s still too soon to call it a cure. A year after 34-year-old Victoria Gray received an infusion of billions of Crispr’d cells, NPR reported last week that those cells were still alive and alleviating the complications of her sickle cell disease. ( Here, here, here, and here.) Finally, at least for one family, the gene-editing technology is turning out to deliver more hope than hype. Crispr’s potential for curing inherited disease has made headlines, including at WIRED, for years.
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