GenKOre Announces Collaboration with a US-based Company on In vivo Gene-editing Therapy

SEOUL,South Korea,Jan. 26,2023 -- GenKOre,Inc.,a Korea-based biotech company with hypercompactCRISPR-Cas tools,announced that it hasentered intoastrategic research collaboration with a US-basedbiopharmacompany for the development ofin vivogeneeditingtherapies. Thiscollaboration will utilizeGenKOre'sproprietaryCRISPR-Casplatform,TaRGET(Tiny nuclease,augmentRNA-basedGenomeEditingTechnology). TheTaRGETplatform is distinct from the most populargenome editing technology,CRISPR-Cas9,in that the whole editing module can be delivered with a single AAV vector. Based ontheirTaRGET platform,GenKOrehas developed differentmodalitiesof editing tools includingTaRGET-CUT,TaRGET-Adenine Base Editing (ABE),TaRGET-AI (Gene Activation and Inhibition system).andTaRGET-FREE(Gene knock-in).

"This collaboration reflects the strength andpotentialutility ofTaRGETplatform in the application ofin vivogene-editing therapy",said Yong-Sam Kim,CEOofGenKOre. "Not only will this collaboration provide an opportunity to validate the applicability ofTaRGETplatform toin vivotherapy,but we will also expand the utility of our technologies to a wider spectrum of rare diseases." The collaborationwasbuilt on the mutualinterestinforging transformative therapeutics for patients with rare diseases.

Under the terms of the agreement,GenKOrewill receiveup to300 million USD including an upfront,option exercise fees and milestone payments upon successful achievement ofR&Dand commercial milestones across twoin vivodisease targets. In addition,GenKOrewill receive research funding and tiered royalties up to a double-digit percentage of net sales.