Azalea Therapeutics Scores an 82M Raise

Azalea Therapeutics' crown jewel is its enveloped delivery vehicle technology, development of which was spearheaded by company co-founder Jenny Hamilton, Ph.D., in the lab of Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D.

Azalea Therapeutics, a Berkeley-based biotech spun out of Jennifer Doudna’s lab, has launched with $82M in funding, including a $65M Series A led by Third Rock Ventures with RA Capital, Yosemite, and Sozo Ventures participating. 

Azalea is developing in vivo CAR-T therapies—gene-editing T cells inside the body with a single injection, rather than extracting, engineering, and reinfusing cells like traditional CAR-T. Their lead program targets B-cell malignancies, with plans to enter the clinic in 12–18 months. 

Their “crown jewel” is an Enveloped Delivery Vehicle (EDV) platform, first developed in Doudna’s lab by CEO/co-founder Jenny Hamilton. EDVs are virus-like particles carrying Cas9 and decorated with antibody fragments to target specific cells (e.g., T cells). 

They pair EDVs with AAV vectors (from co-founder Justin Eyquem’s work) that deliver a DNA template into a precise locus in the genome (the TRAC locus in T cells). Together, this aims to precisely insert genes at a chosen site in T cells using one in vivo treatment. 

Alongside Hamilton and Doudna, co-founders include Michael Fischbach (Stanford bioengineer) and Justin Eyquem (UCSF). 

They are nearing the term to advance an in vivo CAR-T for B-cell cancers into human trials.

Future expansion includes applying the tech to other cell types, including hematopoietic stem cells and B cells, potentially enabling a broad range of single-dose, permanent cell therapies. 

Learn more via FIERCE Biotech