Generation Bio debuts with $25M A round

Gene therapy company Generation Bio Corp. (Cambridge, Mass.) emerged from stealth mode with a $25 million series A round from Atlas Venture.

The newco is using its GeneWeave platform to develop gene therapies delivered via closed-end DNA (ceDNA), which translocates from a cell's cytoplasm to its nucleus without the use of a viral capsid.

President and CEO Geoffrey McDonough told BioCentury that unlike adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapies, Generation Bio's therapies do not induce immunogenicity and as a result, can address the 30% of individuals who have background immunity to viral capsids, and can be re-dosed in patients to sustain treatment effect.

McDonough added that Generation Bio can deliver larger transgenes than AAV-based vectors because their packaging capacity is not limited by the viral capsid's size.

McDonough was previously president and CEO of rare disease company Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (SSE:SOBI).

By YE18, Generation Bio plans to begin clinical studies of two gene therapy candidates that target the liver using lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology. Lead indications have not yet been determined.

According to McDonough, Generation Bio closed its series A last year. It plans to raise a series B round of undisclosed size in 2018 before launching its first two clinical studies.

The company also aims to develop gene therapies that will target muscle, the retina, the CNS and lungs.

Generation Bio exclusively licensed the GeneWeave technology from NIH. Robert Kotin, the company's VP of discovery and scientific founder, was a senior investigator at NIH.

Atlas' Jason Rhodes is Generation Bio's chairman.