Avista Therapeutics, a preclinical gene therapy company, announced a major expansion of its gene therapy platform, leveraging artificial intelligence to tackle key challenges in AAV capsid engineering, large gene delivery, and manufacturing.

 

The company is rolling out ARTEMIS, a next-generation AI platform for capsid design. ARTEMIS harnesses in-house, single-cell datasets from millions of AAV variants across serotypes, tissues, and animal models, combining this data with proprietary protein language models and molecular dynamics. This approach allows Avista to capture structural mechanisms of capsid biology—insights that traditional sequence-only models miss.

 

In parallel, Avista has launched a new Innovation Platform aimed at overcoming major barriers in AAV targeting, large gene delivery, and manufacturing. By integrating structural biology, protein design, and clinical expertise, the platform seeks to develop breakthrough solutions to the field’s toughest technological challenges.

 

"The powerful combination of sequence and structural mechanism AI models uniquely position Avista as a leader in capsid design, with the ability to rapidly develop safe and highly efficient delivery of genetic medicines in tissues across the body," said Robert Lin, Chief Executive Officer of Avista.

 

He added, "Building upon our best-in-class intravitreal vectors, Avista is leveraging these innovative technologies to create impactful therapies, with a clinical pipeline encompassing preclinical stage programs for XLRS, PRPF31, and other retinal diseases, as well as CNS indications."

 

With this dual-platform expansion, Avista aims to accelerate the development of next-generation gene therapies that could transform treatment options for patients worldwide.