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August, 24 2023 • Press Releases

The Retinal Degeneration Fund announces an investment in Amber Bio

Amber Bio is developing a first-of-its-kind RNA writing platform using multi-kilobase edits to reach previously undruggable patient populations

Raleigh, NC – August 24, 2023 – Today, the RD Fund (Retinal Degeneration Fund) – the venture arm of the Foundation Fighting Blindness aimed at rapidly driving research toward preventions, treatments, and cures for retinal degenerative diseases – announces participation in a $26M Series Seed financing for Amber Bio to support its RNA-editing platform.

Amber, a San Francisco based startup, is leveraging a multi-kilobase RNA editing platform to expand the reach of treatable pathogenic variants. The seed financing was co-led by Playground Global and Andreessen Horowitz Bio + Health. Lilly Venture Sciences, Hummingbird Ventures, and Pillar VC also participated in the round alongside the RD Fund.

“We are thrilled to team up with RD Fund and the Foundation Fighting Blindness in building therapeutics to overcome retinal disorders,” says Jacob Borrajo, PhD, chief executive officer and co-founder at Amber Bio. “This partnership brings world-renowned experts in retinal biology and retinal therapeutic development to join in Amber Bio’s mission.”

The funding will be used to advance a first-of-its-kind RNA editing platform which enables multi-kilobase edits, allowing a single drug to treat diseases with high allelic diversity. Among other therapeutic areas, Amber Bio is interested in applying its technologies toward inherited retinal diseases that arise from a diverse set of mutations. 

“We are pleased to join a strong, diverse syndicate to support Amber’s skilled leadership team and their ability to design and improve a novel system for rewriting RNA,” says Rusty Kelley, PhD, managing director at the RD Fund. “The retina transcriptome that includes larger genes with many disease-causing variants is ripe for accurate, efficient and durable RNA targeting, and with reduced toxicity that may result from genomic editing.”

About the RD Fund
The RD Fund (Retinal Degeneration Fund) is the venture arm of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, and a leading investor in the retinal disease space. It was established in 2018 to serve the Foundation’s mission to rapidly drive research toward preventions, treatments, and cures for the entire spectrum of blinding retinal diseases including: retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, and Usher syndrome. The RD Fund focuses on mission-related investments in companies with projects nearing clinical testing. Visit RDFund.org for more information.

About the Foundation Fighting Blindness
Established in 1971, the Foundation Fighting Blindness is the world’s leading private funding source for retinal degenerative disease research. The Foundation has raised more than $891 million toward its mission of accelerating research for preventing, treating, and curing blindness caused by the entire spectrum of blinding retinal diseases including: retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, and Usher syndrome. Visit FightingBlindness.org for more information.

About Amber Bio
Amber Bio is a biotechnology company pioneering new gene editing modalities using multi-kilobase RNA writing to reach previously undruggable diseases. The company is developing a first-of-its-kind RNA editing platform that can correct genetic mutations in a safe and reversible way. Co-founders Jacob Borrajo & Basem Al-Shayeb received their Ph.D. at leading institutions for gene editing research: Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard and University of California, Berkeley. To learn more, visit www.amber.bio and engage with us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Chris Adams
410-423-0585
cadams@fightingblindness.org

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