7 July 2022 - - US-based genetic medicines company ReCode Therapeutics has closed a series B extension financing round, co-led by new investors, Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment unit of Bayer AG, AyurMaya, an affiliate of Matrix Capital Management, and with participation from Amgen Ventures, the company said.

With the additional USD 120m in new financing, the company has secured a total of USD 200m in series B funding. In connection with the financing, Alan Colowick, M.D., M.P.H., managing director of Matrix, and Rakhshita Dhar, senior director of Venture investments Health at Leaps by Bayer, will join ReCode's board of directors.

The initial series B financing announced in October 2021 was co-led by Pfizer Ventures and EcoR1 Capital and included Sanofi Ventures, Orbimed, Vida Ventures, MPM Capital, Colt Ventures, Hunt Technology Ventures L.P., Osage University Partners, Tekla Capital Management LLC, Superstring Capital, and NS Investment.

Proceeds from the financing will be used to fund the diversification of ReCode's pipeline into central nervous system, liver, and oncology indications, while continuing to advance ReCode's lead mRNA programs for primary ciliary dyskinesia and cystic fibrosis into the clinic.

The funds also will be used to advance development of ReCode's platform to deliver a wider range of genetic medicine cargoes, including additional gene correction modalities and small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapies, to a wider range of target cell types in a predictable and programmable fashion.

The capability to precisely target specific organs and cell types is important for maximizing the efficacy of genetic medicines and limiting potential adverse effects.

Additionally, as evidenced with the mRNA COVID vaccines and novel RNA and gene correction therapeutics, LNP packaging enables redosing.

For people with genetic diseases such as CF that require potentially lifelong therapy, this means LNP delivered therapeutics can be administered repeatedly over time, potentially without significant immunogenicity.

In May 2022, ReCode presented preclinical data from its two lead programs in PCD and CF at the American Thoracic Society 2022 International Conference.

These data demonstrated that selective organ targeting LNP-formulated therapeutic candidates for PCD and CF can be precisely delivered directly to disease-relevant cells without significant exposure to other tissue, effectively releasing the encapsulated genetic cargo, and expressing the correct proteins at relevant levels.

The company plans to advance to investigational new drug filings for PCD and CF in late 2022 and mid-2023, respectively.