FYI

Thank you for your question. CRISPR technology is a significant breakthrough and an incredibly useful tool with both scientific and therapeutic applications. However, it is different from Resverlogix’s epigenetic platform in several important ways.

Firstly, CRISPR-based therapies require gene editing (changing the genetic code), while BET inhibitors act at the level of RNA transcription (reading the genetic code), turning certain genes “on” or “off” without permanently altering them. Reversibility of a treatment’s impact is an important safety consideration, and one that regulators take very seriously.

Secondly, part of what is so impressive about CRISPR is its precision, ie. its ability to change single letters of DNA code. This makes it incredibly useful for certain applications, but can be a limitation in other applications. Cardiovascular disease (our primary indication) is a complex, multifactorial disease that involves numerous entire pathways, each composed of hundreds of individual genes. Apabetalone’s unique epigenetic mechanism allows it to simultaneously benefit several pathways that contribute to cardiovascular disease. The CRISPR-based therapies that are currently being developed are primarily focused on genetic diseases, with well understood mechanisms, stemming from mutations in one gene (eg. Huntington’s disease).

Finally, CRISPR-based therapies are still very new. There are challenges that need to be overcome before effective therapies can become commercially available based on this technology. Including issues around delivery of these treatments within the body that apabetalone, and other small-molecule therapeutics, do not face.

Overall, CRISPR is an exciting new technology with vast potential for many applications. CRISPR-based therapeutics are not currently being applied in the same areas as apabetalone, and are not likely to any time soon.

Best regards,