In the First Year of Release, Inscripta's MAD7 CRISPR Enzyme is Widely Adopted by the Gene-Editing Community

Existing investors contribute an additional $30 million to accelerate tools that will revolutionize genomic research

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Dec 19, 2018, 10:00 ET

BOULDER, Colo., Dec. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Inscripta™, a leading gene-editing technology company, today announced that MAD7, its proprietary CRISPR enzyme, has achieved wide adoption by academic, commercial, and government researchers in its first year of availability. MAD7 was recently recognized by the Scientist magazine as one of the "Top 10 Innovations of 2018."

To build on the progress that Inscripta has had over the past 12 months and to speed the development and commercialization of its cutting-edge, gene-editing tools, the company's existing investors have agreed to contribute an additional $30 million in funding, bringing the 2018 fundraising total to $85.5 million.

"In just a year, our MAD7 enzyme has empowered researchers to pursue the next generation of genomic research and gene-editing discoveries," said Kevin Ness, CEO of Inscripta. "The next step is for Inscripta to offer biotech innovators a suite of new technology tools to enable forward cell-engineering in a way never before possible. Impressed with our progress, our current investors decided to double down and make an investment that will quicken our ability to bring these tools to market."

The new funding is an expansion of the Series C round Inscripta raised earlier this year. The new funding comes from existing investors: Venrock, Foresite, Mérieux Développement, Paladin Capital Group, MLS Capital, and NanoDimension.

Inscripta is developing additional MADzymes, including bespoke enzymes for researchers and commercial partners, as well as a full suite of gene-editing tools (software, instruments, and reagents) that will significantly increase the speed and efficiency of CRISPR gene editing.

On December 13 of last year, Inscripta first introduced its MAD7 enzyme, making it fully available to commercial and academic researchers with no up-front licensing fees or "reach-through royalties" on products made using the technology.

In July of this year, Inscripta released data showing the potential for using MAD7 in human therapeutic and diagnostic applications, as well as biological development and manufacturing in a wide array of cell lines. In the same month, the USPTO granted Inscripta its first patents covering editing systems using MAD7 and another enzyme MAD2 in multiple diverse cell types. Inscripta is continuing to pursue additional patent protection on uses of MAD7 and other Inscripta proprietary enzymes.

Additionally, this year, Inscripta completed the strategic acquisition of Solana Biosciences, a life sciences company founded by Illumina™ (ILMN) veterans. In doing so, Inscripta has assembled an elite, life-sciences product development and manufacturing pipeline for precision gene editing.

ABOUT INSCRIPTA
Inscripta is a gene-editing technology company that puts researchers in control by making it easy for them to get all they need for cutting-edge, forward cell-engineering. These tools include a family of CRISPR enzymes (called MADzymes), custom nucleases for researchers and commercial partners, and a full suite of gene-editing tools (instruments, reagents, and software) that will significantly increase the speed and efficiency of multiplexed, precision gene editing. By removing the barriers to forward cell-engineering and gene-editing research, Inscripta will usher in a new era of advances to revolutionize how we feed, fuel, and heal humanity.

Inscripta is led by several genomic technology veterans including CEO Kevin Ness, who co-founded QuantaLife and 10x Genomics, and John Stuelpnagel, the chairman of the company's board, who was co-founder and first CEO of Illumina (ILMN) and chairman of 10x Genomics. Inscripta is headquartered in Boulder, Colo.; has offices in Pleasanton, Calif. and San Diego; and is backed by Venrock, Foresite, Mérieux Développement, Paladin Capital Group, MLS Capital, and NanoDimension. For more information, visit: www.inscripta.com.

SOURCE Inscripta