Gene-editing specialists raise $63M to combat coronary heart disease
Verve Therapeutics, a healthcare company focused on improving cardiovascular outcomes through gene-editing technology, has raised $63 million in Series A2 financing.
The investment round was led by GV, formerly known as Google Ventures. Additional funds were contributed by ARCH Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital, Biomatics Capital, Wellington Management and Casdin Capital.
Verve is working to develop technologies that can edit specific genes in the liver, lowering a person’s LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. This should help permanently lower that individual’s risk of coronary heart disease, a leading cause of death around the world.
“We are immensely grateful to our existing investors for their continued support and commitment to our bold vision to eradicate coronary heart disease, and are very pleased to welcome Wellington Management and Casdin Capital to our investor syndicate,” Sekar Kathiresan, MD., co-founder and chief executive officer of Verve.
“This financing is a testament to the tremendous work by the Verve team and will position us to rapidly advance our lead therapeutic candidate through IND-enabling studies and expand our pipeline of development programs.” Sekar Kathiresan, MD, co-founder and CEO of Verve, said in a statement. “People with heart disease are in urgent need of new therapeutic options, and Verve’s research to date further underscores the transformative potential of gene editing as a therapeutic approach for these patients.”
“Verve’s approach for a once-and-done treatment to address coronary heart disease has the potential to eliminate the leading cause of death in the world, similar to the way the polio vaccine changed history in the last century,” added Krishna Yeshwant, MD, managing partner at GV. “Over the past year, Verve has made remarkable progress on their preclinical programs. The company has a world-class founding team that brings together all of the skills needed to execute on this mission, from human genetics to genome editing technologies to drug development and delivery.”
Verve has now raised $123 million overall.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.