June 27, 2019 Comments (0) Views: 1764 Biotech, Biotech Briefing, Blog

Biotech Briefing: Salk Institute’s Patrick Hsu Named to MIT’s Innovators Under 35 List

Plus: Acutus Medical raises $170 million for heart imaging and mapping

Reports + Research

Salk’s Patrick Hsu Named to MIT’s Innovators Under 35 List

Prior to starting his lab at Salk, Patrick Hsu was a graduate student in Feng Zhang’s lab at Harvard, where Hsu built some of the foundational components of that lab’s CRISPR technology to edit DNA. In Hsu’s lab at Salk, he is studying a family of CRISPR enzymes targeting RNA, that could be used to correct RNA processing errors in neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s. Hsu tells MIT Technology Review that watching the onset of dementia in his grandfather led him to this research.

Acutus Medical Raises $170 Million for Heart Imaging and Mapping

The proceeds from the financing, $100 million from a Series D round and $70 million in credit, will be used to commercialize Acutus’ AcQMap, a cardiac imaging and mapping system that provides real-time arrhythmia visualization. AcQMap is designed to be used by physicians to design patient-specific strategies for cardiac ablation of atrial arrhythmias. The financing included new investors 8VC, Opaleye Management, and Pura Vida Investments, and existing investors, OrbiMed, Deerfield Management Co., Advent Venture Partners, Xeraya Capital, and GE Ventures.

Locana Raises $55 Million for RNA Gene Therapy

Founded in 2016 based on CRISPR technology that tracks and targets specific sequences in RNAs. Announced last month, the $55 million Series A was led by Arch Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors, Temasek and Lightstone Ventures, and new investors, UCB Ventures and GV (formerly Google Ventures). In an interview with Xconomy, Locana CEO says they aren’t disclosing the lead indication, but “(w)e have the ability, scientifically, to go after dozens of different diseases that share some defect within the RNA.:

Read + Listen

POW: Podcast of the Week

Pharmaceutical Executive talks to Cameron Turtle (Eidos Therapeutics), Robin Toft (The Toft Group Executive Search) and Sabrina Johnson (Daré Bioscience) about the future of the life sciences executive.