March 21, 2023, CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTLA), a leading clinical-stage genome editing company focused on developing potentially curative therapies leveraging CRISPR-based technologies, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation to NTLA-2002 for the treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE). NTLA-2002 is an in vivo CRISPR-based investigational therapy designed to inactivate the target gene, kallikrein B1 (KLKB1), to potentially prevent life-threatening swelling attacks in people with HAE.
“The RMAT designation is important recognition for our early clinical data. It indicates that a single dose of NTLA-2002 has the potential to address serious unmet medical need for people living with hereditary angioedema,” said Intellia President and Chief Executive Officer John Leonard, M.D. “We look forward to continuing our productive dialogue with the FDA to accelerate the development of NTLA-2002, an investigational in vivo CRISPR-based therapy, with the goal of bringing forth a potentially transformative treatment to patients more quickly.”
The RMAT designation was established under the 21st Century Cures Act to expedite the development and review of promising therapeutic candidates, including genetic therapies, which are intended to treat, modify, reverse or cure a serious or life-threatening disease. RMAT designation includes benefits, such as early interactions with the FDA, including discussions on surrogate or intermediate endpoints that could potentially support accelerated approval and satisfy post-approval requirements, and potential priority review of a product’s biologics license application (BLA).
The RMAT is the third special regulatory designation received by Intellia for NTLA-2002. NTLA-2002 was also granted Orphan Drug Designation by the FDA and the Innovation Passport by the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
About the NTLA-2002 Clinical Program
Intellia’s multi-national Phase 1/2 study is evaluating the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of NTLA-2002 in adults with Type I or Type II hereditary angioedema (HAE). This includes the measurement of plasma kallikrein protein and activity, as well as HAE attack rate. The Phase 1 portion of the study is an open-label, single-ascending dose design used to identify two dose levels of NTLA-2002 for further evaluation in the Phase 2, randomized, placebo-controlled portion of the study. This Phase 1/2 study will identify the dose of NTLA-2002 for use in future studies. In 2022, Intellia reported positive interim results from the Phase 1 study demonstrating deep, dose-dependent reductions in plasma kallikrein and robust reductions in patient HAE attacks. Patient screening in the Phase 2 portion of the study is ongoing. Visit clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05120830) for more details.
About NTLA-2002
Based on Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR/Cas9 technology, NTLA-2002 is the first single-dose investigational treatment being explored in clinical trials for the potential to continuously reduce kallikrein activity and prevent attacks in people living with hereditary angioedema (HAE). NTLA-2002 is a wholly owned investigational CRISPR therapeutic candidate designed to inactivate the kallikrein B1 (KLKB1) gene, which encodes for prekallikrein, the kallikrein precursor protein. NTLA-2002 is Intellia’s second investigational CRISPR therapeutic candidate to be administered systemically, by intravenous infusion, to edit disease-causing genes inside the human body with a single dose of treatment. Intellia’s proprietary non-viral platform deploys lipid nanoparticles to deliver to the liver a two-part genome editing system: guide RNA specific to the disease-causing gene and messenger RNA that encodes the Cas9 enzyme, which together carry out the precision editing.
About Hereditary Angioedema
Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a rare, genetic disorder characterized by severe, recurring and unpredictable inflammatory attacks in various organs and tissues of the body, which can be painful, debilitating and life-threatening. It is estimated that one in 50,000 people are affected by HAE, and current treatment options often include life-long therapies, which may require chronic intravenous (IV) or subcutaneous (SC) administration as often as twice per week, or daily oral administration to ensure constant pathway suppression for disease control. Despite chronic administration, breakthrough attacks still occur. Kallikrein inhibition is a clinically validated strategy for the preventive treatment of HAE attacks.
About Intellia Therapeutics
Intellia Therapeutics, a leading clinical-stage genome editing company, is developing novel, potentially curative therapeutics using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. To fully realize the transformative potential of CRISPR/Cas9, Intellia is pursuing two primary approaches. The company’s in vivo programs use intravenously administered CRISPR as the therapy, in which proprietary delivery technology enables highly precise editing of disease-causing genes directly within specific target tissues. Intellia’s ex vivo programs use CRISPR to create the therapy by using engineered human cells to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases. Intellia’s deep scientific, technical and clinical development experience, along with its robust intellectual property portfolio, have enabled the company to take a leadership role in harnessing the full potential of CRISPR/Cas9 to create new classes of genetic medicine.
To view all RMATs issued to date in a searchable, sortable Excel spreadsheet, claim the “Database of Publicly Announced U.S. FDA RMAT Designations.”
