Genespire bags €16M for transformative gene therapies

Genespire has secured an injection of $16M in A financing round, and also has named a new CEO, with new board members joining in.

MILAN, Italy–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#investing–Genespire, a biotechnology company focused on the development of transformative gene therapies for patients affected by genetic diseases, announced today the successful close of a €16M Series A financing from Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London and Milan. The company also announced the appointment of Julia Berretta, Ph.D., as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors. Graziano Seghezzi, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners, and Lucia Faccio, Ph.D., Partner at Sofinnova Partners, will also join the Board.

Genespire was founded in March 2020 as a spin-off of the San Raffaele-Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget), one of the world’s leading cell and gene therapy research institutes spearheaded by gene therapy pioneer Prof. Luigi Naldini. The Company was co-founded by Fondazione Telethon and the San Raffaele Hospital, along with Prof. Naldini and Dr. Alessio Cantore.

The funds will be used to advance Genespire’s leading-edge platform technologies towards the development of novel gene therapies in two main areas: primary immunodeficiencies and metabolic genetic diseases.

“Our mission has always been to develop breakthrough solutions for genetic diseases,” said Prof. Naldini, Genespire’s co-founder and Director of SR-Tiget. “This financing enables the company to translate our innovative science and early stage programs into clinical development. The appointment of Dr. Berretta as CEO is a major reinforcement of our team.”

Sofinnova Partners’ Dr. Faccio added, “Genespire is an exciting investment with all the key ingredients for success: Outstanding scientists that developed the first ex-vivo gene therapy to market, experienced executives brought in through Sofinnova Partners’ network and game changing technologies that have the potential to impact the lives of patients with genetic diseases.”

“I am thrilled to be joining Genespire and such exceptional scientific founders,” said Dr. Berretta. “Genespire was born of decades of experience in the gene therapy field, and is optimally positioned to advance transformative therapies for patients affected by severe inherited diseases.”

Dr. Berretta was part of the Executive Committee of Cellectis S.A., a Nasdaq-listed clinical stage gene editing company developing CAR-T cell therapies for cancer, where she led business development as well as strategic planning. She is also an independent Board member of Treefrog Therapeutics, an innovative stem cell company.