Moderna is aiming to build a gene editing franchise powered by some of the same technologies used in its COVID-19 vaccines. The Cambridge biotech company announced Wednesday that it will partner with Life Edit Therapeutics to develop potentially permanent treatments for rare genetic diseases and other conditions.
Life Edit is the North Carolina subsidiary of ElevateBio, a cell and gene therapy manufacturing firm in Waltham. Moderna will fund preclinical research studies run by the two companies using Life Edit’s tools based on CRISPR technologies that allow scientists to make precise changes to the human genome.