CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTLA), a leading genome editing company focused on developing curative therapeutics using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, announced new scientific advisors in immuno-oncology and autoimmunity. The advisors hail from prestigious international institutions and collectively have both scientific and clinical expertise in cell therapies in these areas.

“The advisors we’ve assembled include researchers and physicians who are luminaries in their fields,” said Intellia President and Chief Executive Officer John Leonard, M.D. “Pursuing both in vivo and ex vivo pipelines, Intellia has a broad spectrum approach to genome editing in a variety of therapeutic applications using our CRISPR/Cas9 technology. We look forward to working alongside these experts and benefiting from their deep experience and insight, to drive development of our wholly owned ex vivo programs in immuno-oncology and autoimmunity.”

The following scientific leaders and clinicians are Intellia’s advisors on ex vivo cell therapy in immuno-oncology:

  • Evren Alici, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor and group leader, hematology, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
     
  • Chiara Bonini, M.D., Ph.D., full professor, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele; deputy director, Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, Ospedale San Raffaele; and head, Experimental Hematology Unit, Ospedale San Raffaele, Italy
  • Daniel DeAngelo, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, and director, clinical and translational research, adult leukemia, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, United States
  • Saar Gill, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine, Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania, United States
     
  • Johanna Olweus, M.D., Ph.D., full professor and head, Department of Cancer Immunology, University of Oslo, and director, K.G. Jebsen Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, Norway
     
  • E. John Wherry, Ph.D., Richard and Barbara Schiffrin President’s Distinguished Professor of Microbiology, and director, Institute for Immunology, University of Pennsylvania, United States
     
  • Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker, Ph.D., professor and chair, Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, and senior scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Canada

These experts are Intellia’s advisors on ex vivo cell therapy in autoimmunity:

  • Laurence Turka, M.D., chief scientific officer, Rheos Medicines; deputy director, Immune Tolerance Network; and professor of surgery and medicine (part-time), Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States
     
  • Kathryn Wood, D.Phil., F.Med.Sci., emeritus professor of immunology, Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

About Intellia Therapeutics

Intellia Therapeutics is a leading genome editing company focused on developing proprietary, curative therapeutics using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Intellia believes the CRISPR/Cas9 technology has the potential to transform medicine by permanently editing disease-associated genes in the human body with a single treatment course, and through optimized cell therapies that can treat cancer and immunological diseases by replacing patients’ diseased cells. The combination of deep scientific, technical and clinical development experience, along with its leading intellectual property portfolio, puts Intellia in a unique position to unlock broad therapeutic applications of the CRISPR/Cas9 technology and create a new class of therapeutic products. Learn more about Intellia Therapeutics and CRISPR/Cas9 at intelliatx.com and follow us on Twitter @intelliatweets.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” of Intellia within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, express or implied statements regarding our ability to advance and expand the CRISPR/Cas9 technology to develop into human therapeutic products, as well as our CRISPR/Cas9 intellectual property portfolio; our ability to achieve stable or effective genome editing; the potential development of ex vivo cell therapeutics of all types, including immuno-oncology and autoimmunity therapies, using CRISPR/Cas9 technology; and the impact of our collaborations and relationships with our partners and scientific advisors on our development programs. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs of future events, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: risks related to Intellia’s ability to protect and maintain our intellectual property position; risks related to the ability of our licensors to protect and maintain their intellectual property position; uncertainties related to the initiation and conduct of studies and other development requirements for our product candidates; the risk that any one or more of Intellia’s product candidates will not be successfully developed and commercialized; the risk that the results of preclinical studies will not be predictive of future results in connection with future studies; and the risk that Intellia’s collaborations with IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Novartis or Regeneron, or Intellia’s other ex vivo or in vivo collaborations, will not continue or will not be successful. For a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause Intellia’s actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Intellia’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in Intellia’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Intellia Therapeutics undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.

Intellia Contacts:    
Media:    
Jennifer Mound Smoter    Lynnea Olivarez
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External Affairs & Communications   External Affairs & Communications
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[email protected]   [email protected]
     
Investors:    
Lindsey Trickett    
Vice President    
Investor Relations    
+1 857-285-6211    
[email protected]