STAT+: Moderna ends collaboration with CRISPR company Metagenomi, parts ways with gene editing chief
Three years ago, Moderna, flush with cash from Covid vaccine sales, announced it would start investing in the burgeoning field of gene editing. It created a new division called Moderna Genomics and struck a collaboration with Metagenomi, a University of California-Berkeley spinout that specializes in developing new gene-editing enzymes.
“This will be a completely new approach for Moderna and a dramatic expansion of our modality strategy,” Moderna president Stephen Hogue told investors.
Those efforts appear to have hit some road bumps. On Wednesday, Metagenomi announced the two companies broke off the collaboration after three years of research. The startup said the decision was “mutual” but also attributed it to a “strategic prioritization” by Moderna.
