AstraZeneca dives into gene editing
pharmafile | January 29, 2015 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | AstraZeneca, Intellia Therapetics, Novartis, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, Whitehead, broad institute, crispr, the Innovative Genomics Initiative in California
AstraZeneca is looking to harness the power of a pioneering genome-editing tool in a series of new collaborations.
The UK firm hopes that the CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) technology will allow it to identify new drug targets in pre-clinical models that closely resemble human disease, potentially leading to more precise medicines.
Drawing on resources from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, the Innovative Genomics Initiative in California, and Thermo Fisher Scientific and Broad Institute/Whitehead Institute in Massachusetts, AZ says it will use the tool across its entire discovery portfolio in its key therapeutic areas.
CRISPR allows scientists to make changes in specific genes far faster and more precisely than previous methods. It works by homing on to DNA and then cutting it with ‘enzymatic scissors’, allowing genes to be altered by deleting them, adding new material to them, or turning their activity on or off. This is achieved by harnessing the cell’s own DNA repair mechanisms.
Dr Mene Pangalos, AZ’s executive vice president of innovative medicines and early development, says: “CRISPR is a simple yet powerful tool that enables us to manipulate genes of potential importance in disease pathways and examine the impact of these modifications in a highly precise way.
“By combining the great science from our labs with these world-renowned academic and industry partners, we will be able to integrate this ground-breaking technology into our research and help accelerate the discovery of novel treatments for patients.”
AstraZeneca adds that it will share cell lines and compounds with its partners and work with them to publish its findings from the technology’s application.
The potential of CRISPR has not gone unnoticed by other big pharma firms, though – Novartis recently partnered with Atlas Venture to invest $15 million in biotech firm Intellia Therapetics, which specialises in the technology.
It also signed collaboration deals with Caribou Biosciences, another CRISPR-focused company, to discover and develop new drugs.
George Underwood
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