Stylus Medicine – a biotechnology company dedicated to developing transformative in vivo genetic medicines – announced it emerged from stealth with $85 million in financing. And Stylus’ funding includes a $45 million Series A extension financing with participation from RA Capital Management, Khosla Ventures, and six new investors including Chugai Venture Fund, Eli Lilly and Company, and Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC. This funding follows a $40 million Series A investment from founding investors RA Capital and Khosla Ventures.
What the funding will be used for: Stylus will use this funding to advance its in vivo genetic medicines platform and pipeline of in vivo therapeutic programs. And the company’s powerful and elegant engineering platform combines sequence-specific genome integration with cell-targeted lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery.
The platform is based on Stylus-designed therapeutic-grade recombinases capable of encoding polyfunctional multi-kb payloads with high efficiency, high specificity, and high fidelity. This system enables durable, flexible, and scalable in vivo cell engineering, overcoming major limitations of ex vivo cell therapy manufacturing and expanding the reach of transformative genetic medicines.
Leadership: The company’s leadership includes Emile Nuwaysir, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Jason Fontenot, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer.
Dr. Nuwaysir brings over 25 years of experience in executive leadership positions in the cell and gene therapy field to the role. And as a serial entrepreneur and operator, he has launched and led multiple biotechnology companies from inception to exit, including senior leadership roles at BlueRock Therapeutics (acquired by Bayer), Cellular Dynamics (acquired by FujiFilm), and NimbleGen (acquired by Roche). He was most recently the CEO of Ensoma and the CEO and Chairman of BlueRock Therapeutics. Dr. Nuwaysir is also the past Chairman of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine.
Dr. Fontenot, Stylus’ Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), brings over two decades of experience in senior scientific roles and a track record of leadership in cell and gene therapy. He was most recently the CSO of Sangamo Therapeutics and the CSO of Immusoft Corporation. And he led the Exploratory Research group at Juno Therapeutics and was a group leader in Immunology Research at Biogen. Dr. Fontenot’s academic research was focused on lineage specification in the immune cells. His seminal discoveries in regulatory T cell biology established the molecular basis for dominant immune tolerance with broad implications in autoimmunity and oncology.
Drs. Nuwaysir and Fontenot are part of an accomplished leadership team and an experienced Board of Directors comprised of industry veterans and scientific innovators, including:
Board of Directors
— Emile Nuwaysir, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
— Nessan Bermingham, Ph.D., Operating Partner at Khosla Ventures, formerly Chief Executive Officer at Intellia Therapeutics
— John Gustofson, President at Chugai Venture Fund, formerly Managing Director at AbbVie Ventures
— Patrick Hsu, Ph.D., Scientific Founder of Stylus Medicine, Co-Founder of the Arc Institute, and Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and Deb Faculty Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley
— Joshua Resnick, M.D., Partner at RA Capital Management and President of Raven, RA Capital’s healthcare incubator
Scientific Founders
— Patrick Hsu, Ph.D., Co-Founder of the Arc Institute and Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and Deb Faculty Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley
— Ami S. Bhatt, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine & Genetics at Stanford University
— Michael C. Bassik, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Genetics at Stanford University
— Lacramioara Bintu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University
KEY QUOTES:
“Stylus was established to reimagine how genetic medicines reach patients. At the core of our approach are three defining features of an ideal therapy: safe and targeted in vivo delivery, specific integration, and durable expression of a therapeutic payload. By removing the complexity of ex vivo and viral manufacturing, we will dramatically simplify patient treatment. Our goal is to bring the life-saving promise of genetic medicines to every patient in need, starting with CAR-T therapies.”
Emile Nuwaysir, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Stylus
“Stylus was created in 2022 by Raven, RA Capital’s healthcare incubator, and Khosla Ventures to solve the fundamental challenges holding back genetic medicines. The Stylus system is incredibly elegant, and Stylus has the right team, capital, and strategy to succeed. The company has the potential to vastly expand the availability of life-changing therapies, while creating a scalable, efficient model that is attractive from both a clinical and commercial perspective.”
Joshua Resnick, M.D., Partner at RA Capital and President of Raven
“The genetic medicines revolution began decades ago, but despite the immense therapeutic potential we’ve treated a limited number of patients because of manufacturing and delivery challenges, and the inability to deliver large genetic payloads. Most genetic medicines available today are an important proof-of-concept, but not a practical solution. Stylus set out with a bold vision to solve those challenges. Achieving this vision requires exceptional leadership, and with Emile and Jason at the helm, Stylus is optimally positioned to realize our goal to bring transformative genetic medicines to the millions of patients who desperately need them.”
Nessan Bermingham, Ph.D., Operating Partner at Khosla Ventures
“Recombinases are ideal enzymes for integrating large genetic payloads into the genome. Stylus’ unique approach centers on an extensive, proprietary library of therapeutic-grade recombinases, optimized through computational design and machine learning for protein engineering. By developing engineered recombinases for in vivo genetic medicines, Stylus is unlocking a new era of therapeutic possibilities.”
Patrick Hsu, Ph.D.
