Excision BioTherapeutics, co-founded by Temple University researcher Kamel Khalili has raised $60 million to establish a clinical trial testing for a potential cure for HIV. A therapy developed using the genome-editing technology CRISPR may eradicate the virus from human cells and tissues.
The CRISPR technology works like "molecular scissors" that can cut DNA at any given point.
If Excision's HIV therapy works, it could provide a single-shot cure to the 38 million people worldwide with HIV. The clinical trial is expected to begin later this year.
Khalili, who chairs the neuroscience department at Temple's Lewis Katz School of Medicine announced "This transformative financing will accelerate and support the research we have developed over the past decade". "However, what we're working on is not exclusively focused to the HIV/AIDS virus, but multiple viruses..… There are virtually no areas that are off-limits here," Khalili said. Scientists have also used CRISPR to detect specific targets, such as DNA from cancer-causing viruses and RNA from cancer cells. Currently there is no cure for HIV, and patients keep it under control through costly antiretroviral treatments administered daily. HIV can develop into AIDS, which significantly weakens the immune system, and without treatment, patients are at risk for serious diseases like tuberculosis, lymphomas and Kaposi's Sarcoma. Tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death among people living with HIV, accounting for around one in three AIDS-related deaths. People who are taking HIV treatment and have an undetectable viral load do not pass HIV on to their sexual partners. As of the end of June 2020, 26.0 million people were accessing antiretroviral therapy.
Funding for the trial was by GreatPoint Ventures with support from ARTIS Ventures, a previous investor. New investors include Adjuvant Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Anzu Partners, Cota Capital and WRVI Capital. Excision BioTherapeutics, which has offices located in Philadelphia and San Francisco, have been developing CRISPR therapies since forming in 2015.
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