31st August 2022, Stevenage, UK — Laverock Therapeutics Ltd was founded to develop a unique gene silencing platform for the creation of programmable, allogeneic cell therapies. Having recently completed a seed funding round, the Company has opened dedicated labs in the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, employing six new team members on top of an experienced senior management team.
Laverock’s mission is to utilize Gene Editing induced Gene Silencing (GEiGS®) technology, and its associated computational platform, to engineer induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived cell therapies with improved efficacy, safety, and accessibility.
Earlier this year Laverock demonstrated that its technology, exclusively licensed from Tropic Biosciences, would translate from plants to humans. The Company has now created GEiGS engineered iPSCs, further de-risking its platform technology and laying the foundation for its approach. Experiments are underway to demonstrate cell type and condition specific programmability, generating data to support allogeneic programmes in Type 1 Diabetes and solid tumour directed immune therapy.
CTO Tim Allsopp commented: “As the promise of iPSC-derived therapies continues to grow, so does our understanding of the limitations of existing approaches. Our novel technology has the potential to transform the sector via the creation of programmable, allogeneic cell therapies.”
CEO David Venables commented: “We are thrilled to bring together such an experienced and knowledgeable team of scientific innovators and business leaders to drive forward Laverock’s development. I’d like to thank all our initial investors and supporters who have helped us reach this stage and look forward to bringing you news of further exciting developments as Laverock progresses.”
The team will be attending several conferences including Advanced Therapies Europe (London); Chardan’s 6th Annual Genetic Medicines Conference (New York); Meeting on the Mesa (Carlsbad, California); and European Society of Cell & Gene Therapy (Edinburgh, UK), where they would be happy to discuss more about Laverock, the technology and partnering opportunities.
To learn more about the rapidly expanding market for iPSCs, view the “Global Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPS Cell) Industry Report 2022.”
