Mammoth Biosciences

Mammoth Biosciences develops CRISPR-based in vivo (gene editing done inside the body) therapeutics and molecular diagnostics for a variety of therapeutic areas including liver diseases, neurology, and immuno-oncology. Its offerings include 1) a CRISPR toolkit containing novel Cas enzymes and 2) DETECTR, a CRISPR-based diagnostic platform. The company also intended to build its own pipeline of therapeutics, but had not disclosed its programs as of 2022. 

The company built the CRISPR toolkit with a variety of Cas proteins including Cas12 and Cas13, identified by its protein discovery platform that leverages AI and exclusive metagenomic databases. Mammoth intended to use the toolkit for therapeutics and diagnostic applications based on different characteristics of the proteins. It believes its advantage lies in the Cas14 and Casɸ proteins, which do not originate from bacteria, thereby preventing immunogenicity risks, while the ultra-small sizes of the proteins enable simpler in vivo delivery.

The DETECTR diagnostic test system uses CRISPR nucleases to identify specific gene sequences that indicate the presence of a disease. It reportedly has the ability to provide results within 20 minutes and is programmable based on any DNA or ribonucleic acid (RNA) target. One of Mammoth’s CRISPR-based diagnostic tests was the DETECTR BOOST SARS-CoV-2 reagent kit, which received emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA in January 2022. 

Key customers and partnerships

Mammoth secured a USD 695 million collaboration with Vertex Pharmaceuticals in October 2021 to leverage Mammoth’s CRISPR systems to develop two disease indications put forth by Vertex. This marked the company’s first collaboration relating to its therapeutics segment. In January 2022, the company secured another big pharma collaboration with Bayer to develop in vivo gene editing therapies using Mammoth’s technology. 

The company’s diagnostic partnerships include GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in May 2020 to develop a Covid-19 test and MilliporeSigma (a part of big pharma Merck) and Hamilton Company for the commercialization of DETECTR BOOST in November 2020. 

Funding and financials

In September 2021, Mammoth Biosciences raised USD 195 million in funding, with USD 45 million in Series C and USD 150 million in Series D, lifting the company to unicorn status. The rounds were led by Redmile Group and Foresite Capital. The funds were earmarked to advance its clinical therapeutics pipeline and develop its CRISPR diagnostics.