The TU Dresden Spin-off Seamless Therapeutics Launches with $12.5M Seed Financing to Advance Transformative Gene Editing Platform Based on Programmable Precision Designer Recombinases in Dresden
Seed round co-led by Wellington Partners and Forbion, with additional non-dilutive financial support from the BMBF (GO-Bio funding) enables maturation of the proprietary platform and pipeline towards first clinical evaluation
Seamless Therapeutics, a Dresden based start-up of the Technische Universität Dresden, today announced a $12.5 million (€11.8M) seed financing round which will accelerate further development of its designer recombinases, a novel gene editing platform to transform the treatment of severe diseases. Seamless Therapeutics was founded based on the visionary discoveries from its scientific founders, Prof. Dr. Frank Buchholz, Dean of Research at the Faculty of Medicine and Head of Medical Systems Biology at the University Cancer Center of the Technische Universität Dresden, and his former PhD student Felix Lansing, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Seamless Therapeutics. Both are pioneers in the field of reprogrammable recombinases. Felix Lansing, PhD, will now be responsible for the further development of the company’s proprietary technology.
The company’s pioneering recombinase platform is able to program a widely used and established molecular biology tool to unlock the full potential of gene editing enabling the targeting of any site within the genome. The seed round was co-led by Wellington Partners and Forbion and includes non-dilutive financing from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF GO-Bio,-8B funding), a prestigious German government initiative supporting the most innovative startups in life sciences in Germany. Representatives from both Wellington and Forbion will join the company’s newly formed board of directors. The proceeds from the round will be used to further advance the company’s proprietary technology platform to build a pipeline of therapeutic candidates towards first-in-human readiness as well as to expand the company’s presence in the EU & US.
"I am very happy that our innovative and promising technology can now be transferred from basic research to a potential broad therapeutic application. The financial support provided by the BMBF and the investors will make a major contribution in this regard to advancing the development of this genome editing tool swiftly and purposefully," said Prof. Dr. Frank Buchholz.
“Our modular platform has succeeded in reprogramming site-specific recombinases to any given target sequence effectively breaking the existing hurdles of leveraging this potential best-in-class gene editing system to treat human disease,” commented Felix Lansing, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Seamless Therapeutics. “I look forward to working with our founding investors and our highly skilled team to apply our deep knowledge of recombinases to develop a pipeline of novel treatments.”
“Our goal is to apply our deep understanding of recombinases to leverage their inherent benefits to repair genetic alterations that cause disease. We believe our pioneering technology will allow us to shatter the boundaries that exist in gene editing methods today,” said Anne-K. Heninger, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Seamless Therapeutics. “Both Wellington and Forbion are visionaries and highly experienced biotech investors, and we look forward to working closely with them in our efforts to transform the gene editing landscape.”
“We have entered a new era in drug discovery based on the promise of how precision gene editing can change the way we treat disease in the future. Seamless Therapeutics has a first-mover position with its innovative platform capable of modifying the long held standard recombination technology into a universal gene editing tool with unprecedented specificity. We are excited to support Seamless Therapeutics in its pursuit of taking a leadership position in the rapidly evolving gene editing arena,” added Karl Nägler, PhD, Managing Partner at Wellington Partners.
“At Forbion our philosophy is to seek out pioneering technologies early in their development and to enable founding teams to harness the true potential of their innovation. The team has developed a powerful new platform that has overcome key limitations of existing gene editing tools, such as CRISPR, prime & base editors,” said Dmitrij Hristodorov, PhD, Partner at Forbion.
Seamless Therapeutics' platform has succeeded in reprogramming site specific recombinases to any given target sequence and make a range of specific changes including inversion, excision, exchange, and insertion from small to larger DNA fragments. Recombinases are a class of enzymes that have been widely used in scientific research for decades to precisely modify the genome of model organisms but until now could not be applied as a therapeutic due to their limited programmability to act on new target sites.
About Seamless Therapeutics
Seamless Therapeutics is changing the paradigm of gene editing through a pioneering approach to restore health in patients with severe conditions in a safe and precise manner. Our technology platform unlocks the reprogramming of recombinases, a highly versatile class of enzymes. We are applying our proprietary know-how to develop a pipeline of disease-modifying product candidates across a broad spectrum of indications to expand the therapeutic potential of gene editing.
About Wellington Partners
Wellington Partners is a leading European venture capital firm investing in the most promising early- and growth stage life science companies in the fields of biotechnology, therapeutics, medical technology, diagnostics and digital health. With funds totaling more than €1.2 billion, thereof €590 million committed to life sciences, Wellington Partners has been actively supporting world class private companies translating true innovation into successful businesses with exceptional growth. To date, Wellington Partners has invested in 56 innovative life science companies, including Actelion (acquired by J&J), Definiens (acquired by AZ), Immatics (Nasdaq: IMTX). invendo (acquired by Ambu), MTM Laboratories (acquired by Roche/Ventana), Oxford Immunotec (acquired by PerkinElmer), Rigontec (acquired by MSD), Symetis (acquired by Boston Scientific), and Themis (acquired by MSD).
About Forbion
Forbion is a dedicated life sciences venture capital firm with offices in The Netherlands, Germany and Singapore. Forbion invests in life sciences companies that are active in the (bio) pharmaceutical space. Forbion manages well over EUR 2.3 billion across multiple fund strategies that cover all stages of (bio-) pharmaceutical drug development. Forbion’s current team consists of over 30 life sciences investment professionals that have built an impressive performance track record since the late nineties with investments in 95 companies. Besides financial objectives, Forbion selects investments that will positively affect the health and well-being of patients. The firm is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. Forbion operates a joint venture with BioGeneration Ventures (BGV), the manager of seed and early-stage funds, especially focused on Benelux and Germany.
About BMBF GO-Bio
The BMBF funding initiative GO-Bio supports life science researchers with innovative ideas who are looking to go into business. It provides excellent conditions from an early project stage on for a successful switch from the lab to the economy.
Stephan Wiegand
Öffentlichkeitsarbeit & Marketing
Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus der Technischen Universität Dresden
Dekanat Öffentlichkeitsarbeit und Marketing
E-Mail: stephan.wiegand@uniklinikum-dresden.de
Internet: http://tu-dresden.de/med/
Frank Buchholz featured in DHMD podcast “You Ask We Explain”
A new episode of the podcast series “You Ask We Explain” by Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden (DHMD) features Prof. Dr. Frank Buchholz.
Titled “It’s all a question of genes. The chance of limitless possibilities?” the episode discusses issues of genetic research and gene therapy. Frank was joined by co-panel experts Prof. Dr. Andreas Lob-Hüdepohl and Prof. Dr. Alexander Strobel.
For listening to the podcast (in German), please follow this link.
If you would like to find out more about the participants, please go here.
Business Plan Competition - RecTech team from Dresden wins second place at Science4Life Venture Cup
The Dresden research team has developed a promising business concept to revolutionize molecular medicine based on a customized designer recombinase technology. This genome editing technology is predestined to drive the development of new therapeutic approaches for genetic diseases. Today, more than 8,000 gene mutations are known to cause incurable monogenic diseases. By using the designer recombinases developed in Dresden, these genetic defects could be corrected. Hence previously incurable diseases could be successfully treated. In addition, making use of the genome editing technique offers completely new cures for other diseases, such as viral infections. In order to bring genome editing approaches into clinical practice, it is of utmost importance that the tools used are safe and do not alter the genome accidentally. Designer recombinases have the unique ability to cleave and specifically reassemble DNA in vivo without relying on cellular DNA repair mechanisms. A major advantage over other technologies continues to be that recombinases can correct large structural genome alterations, which has not been possible before. Thus, designer recombinases offer precise and predictable modification of the genome, making them particularly suitable for therapeutic applications. Establishing the necessary platform technology and marketing it profitably defines the innovative business idea of the RecTech project.
In the Science4Life Venture Cup, 88 teams from all over Germany took part to present their innovative business concepts. The ten best contributions were awarded prizes in the first round of the competition and the BMBF-GO-Bio-funded start-up RecTech from Dresden was among the winners. The Dresden team was now also successful in the subsequent rounds of the competition and was able to convince the jurors of its innovative business plan. RecTech took second place in the most competitive phase of the competition, the so-called Business Plan Phase. This is endowed with prize money of € 10,000. The team also scored with the best pitch in the Pharma & Diagnostics category at TechSLAM 2021.
Press review on this news item:
Oiger (News from Saxon industry and the research community) (14 July 2021)
Sächsische Zeitung (Regional newspaper) (14 July 2021)
Science4Life - The Dresden RecTech team has successfully participated in the competition again
The Dresden start-up project RecTech led by Prof. Frank Buchholz and Dr. Anne-Kristin Heninger emerged as one of the winners at the Science4Life TechSLAM on May 11, 2021. Within this competition, 20 start-up teams presented their business idea in a 3-minute pitch, whereby creativity and comprehensibility had to be the focus of the presentation.
250 visitors then used online voting to select the four best teams out of 20 in the respective categories of Medicine, Materials & Sustainability, Energy and Pharma & Diagnostics.
In the category Pharma & Diagnostics, the ReTech team could once again impress the audience with its innovative gene editing technology.
More information on Science4Life TechSLAM 2021
The tailored genome - How enzymes can help to cure hereditary diseases
The start-up project RecTech led by Prof. Frank Buchholz and Dr. Anne-Kristin Heninger has once again succeeded in scoring points in the prestigious Science4Life Venture Cup. This time, RecTech was awarded as one of the ten best teams for its innovative business concept. The participation is highly competitive and offers applicants access to more than 300 industry experts.
The research team of the TU Dresden has developed a promising business concept to establish a flourishing Biotech company in Dresden based on designer recombinase technology. The technology of genome editing applies molecular biological tools to specifically modify the genetic code of organisms. Based on genome editing tools, genetic diseases might be cured in the future by means of "molecular repair". The business idea of the RecTech project is to develop a recombinase platform technology.
Currently, more than 8,000 gene mutations are known to cause genetic diseases that are currently incurable. However, RecTech's designer recombinases enable the development of new curative therapies for such diseases. Sequence-specific recombinases (SSRs) are enzymes that can precisely edit and modify the genome at a specific target sequence. The RecTech team has developed innovative methods to adapt SSRs to any recognition sequence.
In the phase of the Science4Life business plan competition, 81 teams from all over Germany once again participated. This time, the ten best business concepts were awarded within the Venture Cup and the BMBF-GO-Bio-funded start-up RecTech from Dresden was again among them.
Start-up RecTech is one of the winners of the 2021 Science4Life Venture Cup first phase
Within the business plan competition of the 2021 Science4Life Venture Cup, 97 applicants presented their innovative business ideas and 5 teams were awarded with a prize for the best business idea. The BMBF-GO-Bio-funded start-up project RecTech, led by Prof. Dr. Frank Buchholz and Dr. Anne-Kristin Heninger, successfully convinced the reviewers with their idea to develop Designer-Recombinases as versatile genome editing tools for novel healing strategies of genetic diseases.
Science4Life e.V. is an independent founders' initiative, which was already founded in 1998 as a non-profit organization. Initiators and sponsors are the Hessian state government and the healthcare company Sanofi. Once a year, the initiative organizes the largest business plan competition in the fields of life sciences, chemicals and energy in Germany. The winning teams qualify for selected coaching workshops during the Academy Days (link).
The Dresden start-up project RecTech, led by Prof. Dr. Frank Buchholz and Dr. Anne-Kristin Heninger, is one of five start-up projects that received a prize for the best innovative business idea within the prestigious Science4Life Venture Cup (link). Frank Buchholz, Professor of Medical Systems Biology at the Medical Faculty of the TU Dresden and Anne-Kristin Heninger, leader of the RecTech project, are developing methods to correct or remove mutated sequences in the human genome. The introduced innovative genome editing technology is based on many years of research developing sequence-specific recombinases (SSRs) as an efficient and safe genome surgery tool. SSRs are enzymes that can precisely edit the genome of cells at a specific target sequence. In particular, these so-called Designer-Recombinases could be applied for the treatment of monogenetic diseases. Currently, more than 8,000 genetic modifications are known that lead to presently incurable diseases. RecTech's Designer-Recombinases will enable the development of new curative therapies for such diseases. Thus, the establishment of an innovative platform technology for the production of these tailor-made genome editing tools opens up a completely new market segment with promising commercial prospects in Dresden.
The team of Prof. Buchholz and Dr. Heninger has developed a promising business concept to establish a flourishing Biotech company in Dresden based on the recombinase technology. RecTech’s goal is to transfer the technology into broad clinical application in the near future.
Development of a powerful gene editing tool to correct a genomic inversion frequently found in Hemophilia A
Hemophilia A (HA) is the most commonly occurring inheritable deficiency of blood coagulation. Severely affected individuals suffer frequent spontaneous haemorrhaging, which can lead to chronic painful and debilitating arthropathies, hematomas, and potentially life-threatening internal bleeding. About 50% of severe HA cases are caused by large gene inversions between inverted repeats surrounding the F8 gene.
In an attempt to find novel ways to flawlessly revert these gene defects, The Buchholz laboratory has developed a recombinase-based system to correct a 140 kb genomic inversion of the F8 gene causing severe Hemophilia A. The team was able to reverse the defect in patient derived cells at high efficiency, indicating that this approach might be suitable to develop a curative therapy for patients carrying this genetic inversion.