Nvelop Therapeutics

About Nvelop Therapeutics

Nvelop Therapeutics, established in 2022, is a biotechnology firm concentrated on developing programmable, non-viral delivery systems for genetic medicines. The company was co-founded by luminaries in the gene-editing field, Dr. David Liu of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Dr. J. Keith Joung, formerly of Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Samagya Banskota. Both Drs. Liu and Joung are serial entrepreneurs and respected scientists who have pioneered foundational gene-editing technologies like CRISPR/Cas9, base editing, and prime editing, and have co-founded other successful biotech companies such as Editas Medicine, Beam Therapeutics, and Verve Therapeutics. This deep background in genetic science directly informs Nvelop's core mission.

The company's primary focus is on resolving a critical bottleneck in genetic medicine: the efficient and safe *in vivo* delivery of therapeutic payloads to specific target cells. To achieve this, Nvelop is advancing two distinct, modular platforms originating from the founders' academic labs. These platforms are engineered to function like virus-like particles (eVLPs) but are designed to have minimal or no viral components, thereby increasing potential safety. One platform, developed in Dr. Liu's lab, uses engineered particles to deliver the protein and RNA complexes needed for Cas9, base, and prime editing. The second, from Dr. Joung's lab, employs a similar particle-based approach but with fewer viral parts and a distinct method for loading therapeutic cargo that does not depend on viral-derived proteins. These systems are designed to carry a diverse range of cargo types and sizes, including ribonucleoproteins (RNPs), to tissues that have been historically difficult to reach.

Nvelop Therapeutics operates in the drug discovery and biotechnology markets, with a business model that includes developing its own internal pipeline of therapeutics and enabling strategic partners by providing its delivery technology. The company emerged from stealth in April 2024, announcing it had secured $100 million in a seed funding round from a syndicate of top-tier life science investors, including Newpath Partners, Atlas Venture, F-Prime Capital, 5AM Ventures, GV, and ARCH Venture Partners. The company is led by CEO Jeff Walsh and CSO Melissa Bonner, both veterans of bluebird bio, bringing extensive experience in the development and approval of cell and gene therapies. In December 2024, Nvelop Therapeutics merged with Chroma Medicine to form nChroma Bio, a new entity that raised an additional $75 million and will continue to advance the combined technologies, with Jeff Walsh as CEO.