Verve Therapeutics Founded to Protect Against Heart Disease Launches with $58.5 Million in Series A Funding Led by GV

Company to Develop Gene Editing Therapies to Permanently Reduce Risk
of Coronary Artery Disease in Adults

Announces Key Licensing Agreements with the Broad Institute and
Harvard University, and Collaboration Agreements with Beam Therapeutics
and Verily

Leading Cardiologist and Geneticist Sekar Kathiresan, M.D., Named
Chief Executive Officer

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Verve
Therapeutics, a next-generation cardiovascular company, today
announced its launch to discover and develop therapies that safely edit
the adult human genome to permanently reduce a person’s risk of coronary
artery disease, the most common form of heart disease and the leading
cause of death worldwide. Verve brings together two of the biggest
breakthroughs in 21^st-century biomedicine—human genetic
analysis and gene editing—to create a promising new treatment approach
for adults at risk of coronary artery disease. The company was founded
by a team of world-renowned researchers in cardiovascular genetics and
pioneers of gene editing, including Sekar Kathiresan, M.D., Kiran
Musunuru, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, and J. Keith Joung, M.D., Ph.D.

The $58.5 million Series A financing was led by GV (formerly Google
Ventures), with participation from ARCH Venture Partners, F-Prime
Capital, and Biomatics Capital. The funds raised will be used to advance
the pre-clinical programs through proof-of-concept studies. The company
has assembled a portfolio of key gene editing technologies, which
includes a collaboration with Beam Therapeutics and license agreements
with Harvard University and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
Verve has also entered into a collaboration with Verily to develop and
optimize nanoparticle formulations for therapeutic delivery.

Genetic research conducted by Verve’s founders and others has identified
healthy adults who carry naturally occurring gene variants that
dramatically lower their lifetime risk of coronary artery disease and
heart attacks. Verve is building on this research to develop gene
editing therapies that confer lifelong protection in adults at risk of
coronary artery disease.

All of the therapeutics to be developed by Verve involve making edits in
adult (somatic) cells, which are not passed down to offspring.

“Coronary artery disease is a true pandemic and a growing health
crisis,” said Sekar Kathiresan, M.D., co-founder and incoming chief
executive officer of Verve. “Our genetic understanding of coronary
artery disease, combined with increasing sophistication of gene editing
technologies, have aligned to create a transformative moment in the
treatment of this disease. Verve was founded to turn the tide of
coronary artery disease worldwide. Gene editing offers the possibility
of introducing protective gene variants to adults at risk of the disease
through a one-time therapy.”

“New therapeutic approaches are needed to protect populations at risk of
coronary artery disease,” said Kiran Musunuru, M.D., Ph.D., MPH,
co-founder and chief scientific advisor of Verve and associate professor
of cardiovascular medicine and genetics at the Perelman School of
Medicine at University of Pennsylvania. “Gene editing has the potential
to completely transform the treatment paradigm for the disease.
Preclinical studies conducted in the field, including work done in my
lab, have shown the promise of gene editing to safely reduce cholesterol
and other coronary artery disease risk factors.”

Existing treatments to prevent coronary artery disease, including
cholesterol-lowering statins and other therapies, face challenges due to
poor adherence, high cost, and limited access to these medicines,
especially in low- and middle-income countries, where more than 80
percent of deaths due to coronary artery disease occur.¹

Gene editing technologies, including CRISPR nucleases and base editors,
have the potential to change those outcomes. Accurate, directed gene
edits within the adult liver could improve lifelong lipid and metabolic
status and lower coronary artery disease risk. Preclinical studies
already conducted by the company and its scientific founders have
validated the potential efficacy of gene editing approaches to safely
reduce coronary artery disease risk factors.

Verve will take a stepwise approach to clinical development, first
taking aim at patients with life-threatening coronary artery disease and
high unmet medical need. As the company establishes safety and efficacy,
Verve will widen its clinical focus to include progressively larger
patient populations at risk of coronary artery disease.

“Cholesterol-lowering treatments have been an important advance for many
patients at risk of coronary artery disease,” said Burt Adelman, M.D.,
co-founder and chairman of the board of Verve. “However, as the
disease’s prevalence rises in low- and middle-income countries, the
current treatment model of daily pills or monthly injections over a
lifetime must evolve if we are to effectively protect millions of people
from disability or death due to coronary artery disease. Imagine if a
single injection could permanently and safely prevent coronary disease.
That’s the singular goal that Verve will be pursuing.”

Investors, Licenses and Collaborations

GV led the $58.5 million Series A financing. Also participating in the
round are ARCH Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital, and Biomatics Capital.

“Verve is taking an unparalleled approach to the prevention of coronary
artery disease by leveraging two of the most important scientific
breakthroughs of the last decade — human genetics and genome editing,”
said Krishna Yeshwant, M.D., general partner at GV and board member of
Verve. “Verve is founded by a truly exceptional team of experts in human
genetics, genome editing, and drug delivery and development. The company
has broad potential to address the number one leading cause of death in
the world unlike anything we’ve seen before.”

Verve launches with key intellectual property agreements in place. The
company has licensed foundational CRISPR patents, including Cas9 and
Cas12a (Cpf1), from the Broad Institute and Harvard University for human
therapeutic applications against certain cardiovascular targets.

Verve has also entered into a strategic collaboration with Beam
Therapeutics under which Verve will receive exclusive access to Beam’s
base editing, gene editing, and delivery technologies for human
therapeutic applications against certain cardiovascular targets. (Beam
was itself launched around technologies developed at Harvard and the
Broad Institute.) After the completion of Phase 1 studies, Beam has the
ability to participate in future development and commercialization, and
share 50 percent of U.S. profits and losses, for any product directed
against these targets. The parties will also collaborate on the
development of novel delivery technologies. In addition, Verve has
partnered with Verily with the goal of leveraging Verily’s unique
nanoparticle screening platform to develop and optimize new gene editing
delivery vehicles.

“In both its science and its ethos, Verve makes a natural partner for us
at Beam,” said John Evans, chief executive officer of Beam Therapeutics
and board member of Verve. “We are excited to contribute in addressing
this important public health need.”

Leadership, Founders and Board

Sekar Kathiresan has been named as Verve’s chief executive officer and
is expected to assume his role starting in July, 2019. He will also join
Verve’s board of directors. Biotech veteran Andrew Ashe, J.D., has been
appointed president and chief operating officer.

Kathiresan is a preventive cardiologist who has made groundbreaking
discoveries of cardioprotective genetic mutations, which confer
resistance to cardiovascular disease. He is currently director of the
Center for Genomic Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH),
co-director of the Program in Medical and Population Genetics at the
Broad Institute, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. In
tandem with his research, his clinical focus is the primary prevention
of myocardial infarction in individuals with a family history of heart
attack. Upon assuming his role as CEO of Verve, he will be stepping down
from his academic responsibilities at the Broad Institute, MGH and
Harvard.

Ashe is an accomplished biotech executive with over 20 years of
experience in operations and legal management. Prior to joining Verve,
he served as a senior executive and general counsel for several biotech
companies, including Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation and Dyax
Corp.

In addition to Sekar Kathiresan and Andrew Ashe, Verve has a founding
team of world-leading experts in cardiovascular medicine and patient
care, cardiovascular genetics, gene editing delivery technology and
safety, drug development, and company building. Members of the founding
team will serve in an advisory capacity to the company.

• Burt Adelman, M.D., Chairman of the Board
  Former Executive
  Vice President of R&D, Biogen; former Executive Vice President of R&D
  and Chief Medical Officer, Dyax
• Barry Ticho, M.D., Ph.D., Board Member
  Chief Medical
  Officer, Stoke Therapeutics
• Krishna Yeshwant, M.D., MBA, Board Member
  General Partner,
  GV
• Anthony Philippakis, M.D., Ph.D., Strategic Advisor and Board Member
  Chief
  Data Officer, Broad Institute; Venture Partner, GV
• John Evans, MBA, Board Member
  Chief Executive Officer,
  Beam Therapeutics; Venture Partner, ARCH Venture Partners
• Jessica Alston, Ph.D., Board Observer
  Principal, F-Prime
  Capital
• Boris Nikolic, M.D., Board Observer
  Co-Founder and
  Managing Director, Biomatics Capital
• Kiran Musunuru, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, Chief Scientific Advisor
  Associate
  Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Genetics, Perelman School of
  Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
• J. Keith Joung, M.D., Ph.D., Strategic Advisor
  Pathologist
  and Desmond and Ann Heathwood Research Scholar, Massachusetts General
  Hospital; Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School; Co-Founder,
  Editas Medicine and Beam Therapeutics
• Issi Rozen, MBA, Strategic Advisor
  Chief Business Officer,
  Broad Institute

The company also benefits from a scientific advisory board with
unparalleled expertise in cardiovascular medicine and in the development
of groundbreaking therapies.

• Eugene Braunwald, M.D.
  Cardiologist, Brigham and Women’s
  Hospital (BWH); Distinguished Hersey Professor of Medicine, Harvard
  Medical School; former Chair of Medicine, BWH; founding Chief Academic
  Officer, Partners Healthcare
• Penny M. Heaton, M.D.
  Chief Executive Officer, Bill &
  Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute
• Daniel J. Rader, M.D.
  Seymour Gray Professor of Molecular
  Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

About Verve Therapeutics
Verve Therapeutics is a
biotechnology company created with a singular focus: to protect the
world from heart disease. Verve is developing therapies to safely edit
the genome of adults and confer lifelong protection from coronary artery
disease, the most common form of heart disease and the leading cause of
death worldwide. Founded by world-leading experts in cardiovascular
medicine and gene editing, Verve is backed by a top-tier syndicate of
investors, including GV (formerly Google Ventures), ARCH Venture
Partners, F-Prime Capital, and Biomatics Capital. Verve is headquartered
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has a research lab located at
Pennovation Works, the University of Pennsylvania incubator space in
Philadelphia. For more information, visit www.VerveTx.com.

References
¹ Finegold JA, Asaria P, Francis DP.
Mortality from ischaemic heart disease by country, region, and age:
statistics from World Health Organization and United Nations. Int
J Cardiol. 2013;168(2):934-45.

Contacts

Lisa Raffensperger, (617) 903-8783
Ten Bridge Communications
[email protected]