16 minutes News

16 Minutes on the News #11: CRISPR — Policy, Platform, Trials

Jorge Conde, Andy Tran, and Sonal Chokshi

Posted October 8, 2019

This is the 11th episode of 16 Minutes, a weekly show where we quickly cover the top headlines of the week, the a16z Podcast way: why are these topics in the news; what’s real, what’s hype — from our vantage point in tech.

This week, we do a 20-ish minute deep-dive on CRISPR, to tease apart the FUD from the facts given a bunch of recent news (not research!) around the gene-editing platform. The news implications range from policy to practice:

  • At the end of July, one of the first laws to directly regulate CRISPR was signed in the state of California by Governor Gavin Newsom, making it illegal for “gene therapy” kits to be sold, unless they have a clear warning label that the kit is “not for self-administration” — this policy may affect future “biohacking“… but also, such kits don’t really exist yet!
  • At the end of August, the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM, an TKTK) released a Therapeutic Developers’ Statement of Principles for the use of gene editing in therapeutic applications — endorsed by 13 of the most active companies in the field — while it supports somatic cell editing, it also asserts that germline gene editing “is currently inappropriate in human clinical settings”.
  • The above news is also relevant given news of/ the scandal from earlier this year (first revealed by MIT Technology Review) around “CRISPR babies” with germline edits born in China;
  • Meanwhile, clinical trials for CRISPR are coming of age, with the first publicly identified CRISPR patient (treating sickle cell disease) and the first CRISPR study inside the body (for LCA, the most common cause of inherited childhood blindness); how do these show pacing and containment of risks (somatic cell, monogenetic phenotypes, ex vivo, etc.)?

Finally, how does all this news affect innovation in gene therapies and other applications? When it comes to engineering the genome — including tech challenges and startup opportunities — what might we  borrow from the history of innovation here? If CRISPR is not a single tool or set of proteins but a platform, what becomes possible? General partner Jorge Conde and partner Andy Tran, both of the a16z bio team, share their thoughts on all this and more with host Sonal Chokshi in this episode of 16 Minutes.

Contributors
More From These Contributors

The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements; a16z has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly as well as unannounced investments in publicly traded digital assets) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

More About This Podcast

16 minutes is a short news podcast covering the top headlines of the week, separating what’s real from what’s hype.

Learn More
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
go to top