A German biotech company with genome editing technology has raised €8 million in seed financing to progress a nuclease-based product for cancer. Akribion Therapeutics GmbH is a 2024 spin-out of the industrial company BRAIN Biotech AG which supplies enzymes and proteins to the biotech industry. Akribion has in-licensed a nuclease from BRAIN which it says has promise for treating cancers. Its lead product will be developed for HPV-induced oropharyngeal head and neck cancer.
The product is the genome editing G-dase E nuclease which aims to kill cells by shredding their DNA and RNA. According to Lukas Linnig, the company’s co-founder and co-CEO, the G-dase E nucleases allow the specific depletion of certain subsets of cells based on the presence of a predetermined RNA sequence. In a statement issued on 4 February, he called this approach “programmable cell depletion.”
The G-dase E technology was discovered by Paul Scholz and colleagues at BRAIN, which is an acronym for Biotechnology Research and Information Network. BRAIN is more than 30 years old. The seed financing round was led by CARMA FUND and RV Invest with participation from the High-Tech Gründerfonds and others.
“While we are initially focused on advancing ground breaking precision oncology therapies, we believe that this approach to programmable cell depletion could have much wider application,” Mr. Linnig said.
Copyright 2025 Evernow Publishing Ltd