A1AT

WVE-007 (INHBE GalNAc-siRNA for obesity) is on track to initiate a clinical trial in 1Q 2025; new preclinical data for WVE-007 demonstrate opportunities for monotherapy, for synergistic use with GLP-1s, and for maintenance to avoid rebound weight gain following cessation of GLP-1s Recent proof-of-mechanism data for WVE-006 unlocked Wave’s best-in-class RNA editing capabilities; three new wholly owned RNA editing programs targeting PNPLA3, LDLR and APOB are first-in-class approaches to address significant unmet needs in cardiometabolic diseases Wave plans to have five GalNAc-RNA editing or GalNAc-siRNA programs in the clinic by 2026 Wave’s clinically validated platform continues to lead on the improvement of intracellular delivery using novel chemistry, including PN backbone chemistry modifications CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (Nasdaq: WVE), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on unlocking the broad potential of RNA medicines to transform human health, today announced updates across its growing pipeline, which were also discussed during the company’s virtual analyst and investor Research Day (link to webcast). Updates included new preclinical data for Wave’s GalNAc-small interfering RNA (siRNA) approach for obesity, WVE-007, which is on track to initiate a clinical trial in the first quarter of 2025. Wave also introduced new, wholly owned GalNAc-RNA editing programs and demonstrated its leadership in oligonucleotide chemistry innovation. “This year, we showed through multiple positive clinical datasets that our leading RNA medicines platform is opening up new possibilities for the treatment of human disease. Next to the clinic will be our WVE-007 program, which reimagines obesity treatment with a mechanism that directly impacts fat cells – particularly visceral fat – and which could be used as monotherapy, add-on to GLP-1s, or for maintenance post-GLP-1 cessation,” said Paul Bolno, MD, MBA, President and Chief Executive Officer at Wave Life Sciences. “Additionally, we are excited to introduce three new programs for mRNA correction and upregulation to treat cardiometabolic diseases with significant unmet needs. These programs have substantial, well-defined patient populations, strong support from human genetics, efficient paths to proof-of-concept in the clinic, and offer the opportunity to meaningfully change health outcomes for millions of people. This truly is an exciting time for Wave and for patients as we unlock new biology and build our high-value and innovative pipeline.” Key Highlights from Today’s Virtual Research Day WVE-007: INHBE GalNAc-siRNA and potential best-in-class obesity therapeutic approaching the clinic WVE-007 is Wave’s GalNAc-siRNA that targets INHBE as a novel approach to treat obesity. The approach is based on human genetics, where individuals who have a protective loss-of-function mutation in the INHBE gene have a healthier cardiometabolic profile, including less unhealthy visceral fat, lower triglycerides, and lower risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.Silencing of INHBE in vivo directly impacts adipocytes (fat cells) and induces lipolysis (fat burning), which is different from GLP-1s’ centrally acting mechanism that involves the digestive system and central nervous system to decrease appetite.New preclinical data in diet induced obese (DIO) mice demonstrate the potential of WVE-007 to be used across the treatment continuum, including as monotherapy, as an add-on to GLP-1s, and for maintenance to prevent weight regain and weight cycling after discontinuing GLP-1s.Wave is on track to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial for WVE-007 in adults living with overweight or obesity in the first quarter of 2025. The trial is planned to assess safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and Activin E lowering (a biomarker for target engagement), as well as body composition. New GalNAc-RNA editing programs designed to optimally address high-impact cardiometabolic diseases Building on Wave’s recent achievement of the first-ever therapeutic RNA editing with WVE-006 in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, the company today announced three new, wholly owned RNA editing programs that are on track for candidate selection in 2025. Like WVE-006, these programs leverage GalNAc conjugation and have efficient clinical paths to proof-of-concept. These new programs include: PNPLA3 (mRNA correction): Homozygous PNPLA3-I148M patients are at high risk for a variety of liver diseases and there are more than 9 million impacted individuals in the US and Europe. Wave’s RNA editing approach aims to achieve at least 50% correction to restore the heterozygous phenotype with low risk of liver disease, similar to the approach with WVE-006.LDLR (mRNA upregulation) and APOB (mRNA correction): High unmet needs remain among familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) patients, with approximately half of patients not reaching goal LDL-c levels with available therapies. Wave’s AIMers to upregulate LDLR and correct APOB have potential to be first-in-class treatment approaches for best-in-class effects to reach target LDL-c levels in Heterozygous FH (HeFH) patients. Combined, LDLR and APOB AIMers would address ~1 million HeFH patients in the US and Europe. LDLR upregulation also offers significant expansion opportunities in patients with statin intolerance or prior cardiovascular events (~30 million patients in the US and Europe). Chemistry innovation enhancing intracellular delivery Today, Wave shared data demonstrating how its proprietary chemistry results in marked improvements in five key areas of intracellular delivery: 1) cellular uptake; 2) endosomal release; 3) cellular residency; 4) nuclear uptake; and 5) target engagement.Wave shared how it is using PN variants and modifications to physicochemical properties to achieve best-in-class siRNA silencing and RNA editing in a variety of extrahepatic tissues.Wave also highlighted novel chemistry used in its AIMers, including proprietary N-3-uridine chemistry (N3U), which substantially enhances RNA editing efficiency. This novel chemistry was the subject of a recent Nucleic Acids Research publication. An archived webcast of the event can be accessed by visiting “Investor Events” on the investor relations section of the Wave Life Sciences website: https://ir.wavelifesciences.com/events-publications/events. About Wave Life SciencesWave Life Sciences (Nasdaq: WVE) is a biotechnology company focused on unlocking the broad potential of RNA medicines to transform human health. Wave’s RNA medicines platform, PRISM®, combines multiple modalities, chemistry innovation and deep insights in human genetics to deliver scientific breakthroughs that treat both rare and prevalent disorders. Its toolkit of RNA-targeting modalities includes editing, splicing, RNA interference and antisense silencing, providing Wave with unmatched capabilities for designing and sustainably delivering candidates that optimally address disease biology. Wave’s diversified pipeline includes clinical programs in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and Huntington’s disease, as well as a preclinical program in obesity. Driven by the calling to “Reimagine Possible”, Wave is leading the charge toward a world in which human potential is no longer hindered by the burden of disease. Wave is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. For more information on Wave’s science, pipeline and people, please visit www.wavelifesciences.com and follow Wave on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn. Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements concerning our goals, beliefs, expectations, strategies, objectives and plans, and other statements that are not necessarily based on historical facts, including statements regarding the following, among others: the anticipated initiation, site activation, patient recruitment, patient enrollment, dosing, generation and reporting of data and completion of our clinical trials, including interactions with regulators and any potential registration based on these data, and the timing and announcement of such events; regulatory submissions and timing for regulatory feedback; the protocol, design and endpoints of our clinical trials; the future performance and results of our programs in clinical trials; our expectations with respect to how our clinical data successes to date may predict success for our future therapeutic candidates, future clinical data readouts and further validate of our platform; ongoing and future preclinical activities and programs; the potential of our preclinical data to predict the behavior of our compounds in humans; our identification and expected timing of future product candidates and their therapeutic potential; the anticipated benefits of our therapeutic candidates and pipeline compared to our competitors; patient population estimates related to our therapeutic candidates and the potential addressable market that our therapeutics may address; our ability to design compounds using various modalities and the anticipated benefits of that approach; the breadth and versatility of our PRISM drug discovery and development platform; the expected benefits of our stereopure oligonucleotides compared with stereorandom oligonucleotides; the potential benefits of our RNA editing capability, including our AIMers, compared to others; the benefits of RNA medicines generally; the potential for certain of our programs to be best-in-class or first-in-class; the potential benefits that our “edit-verse” may provide us, including identifying new RNA editing targets; our ability to translate genetic insights into high impact medicines; the status and progress of our programs relative to potential competitors; the progress and potential benefits of our collaborations; ;and the anticipated duration of our cash runway and our ability to fund future operations. The words “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “continue,” “target” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of these risks, uncertainties and important factors, including, without limitation, the risks and uncertainties described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Wave’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as amended, and in other filings Wave makes with the SEC from time to time. Wave undertakes no obligation to update the information contained in this press release to reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances. Investor Contact:Kate Rausch+1 617-949-4827krausch@wavelifesci.com Media Contact:Alicia Suter+1 617-949-4817asuter@wavelifesci.com

Adapted from iStock, Drypsiak Vertex may have pivoted away from the space, but candidates in development by Arrowhead/Takeda, Wave, Korro and others could address the damage underlying alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and make today’s treatments a thing of the past. Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency is a genetic disorder that affects the liver and/or lungs. Approximately 1 in 3,500 people have two abnormal SERPINA1 genes for the alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) protein and are at risk of serious organ damage due to AATD. While M-AAT is produced in healthy humans to inhibit neutrophil elastase in the lungs, AATD patients produce Z-AAT, which does not inhibit neutrophil elastase as effectively. If too much neutrophil elastase builds up in the lungs or liver, the result is inflammation which, untreated, can lead to lifelong complications. The only currently approved treatment option for AATD is augmentation therapy , which entails delivering normal alpha-1 antitrypsin collected and purified from blood donors through weekly intravenous administration. But this treatment does not reverse pulmonary damage or stop the progression of liver damage. Multiple companies are developing candidates that would prevent or reverse this damage, and despite some setbacks in the field, in the next 5 to 10 years we could see augmentation therapy become a thing of the past. In August 2024 , Vertex Pharmaceuticals announced that the company would cease research into both of its investigational small molecules for AATD. While Vertex had hoped that VX-634 and VX-668 would treat the disease by correcting the AAT protein, the efficacy was not transformative enough. Along with Vertex’s November 2023 discontinuation of the development of VX-864 for AATD due to reports of rashes and elevated liver enzymes, these setbacks highlight some of the challenges associated with researching new treatments for AATD. Meanwhile, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals and Takeda are recruiting for three Phase III trials for fazirsiran, an investigational subcutaneous first-in-class investigational RNA interference (RNAi) therapy for AATD-associated liver disease. While Phase II AROAAT-2002 results indicated that fazirsiran led to significant reductions in Z-AAT, the evidence for pulmonary efficacy and improvement is murky because the Phase II trial did not have a placebo arm and the median FEV1 and mean DLCOhbg—markers of pulmonary function—were stable over time in all subjects receiving experimental treatment compared to baseline. While these data do not show any signs of pulmonary decline, there is no sign of overall pulmonary improvement either. In addition, Sanofi is working on SAR447537, an AATD asset acquired from Inhibrx. Formerly known as INBRX-101 , SAR447537 is a fusion protein currently in the recruitment stage for Phase II trials involving AATD emphysema. In Phase I results, safety and pharmacokinetic data supported the intravenous use of SAR447537 every three or four weeks. However, efficacy data related to the liver are not available. In the in vivo base editing space, Beam Therapeutics is investigating the use of BEAM-302 to treat AATD. BEAM-302 is a liver-targeting lipid nanoparticle formulation that is currently undergoing Phase I/II trials and is formulated to be a one-time intravenous injection of an adenine base editor. When tested in rat and mouse models , toxic liver protein levels decreased. Finally, Wave Life Sciences, AIRNA and Korro Bio are competing in the early phases of preclinical/clinical research to develop AATD-targeting subcutaneous RNA-editing oligonucleotides. On Oct. 16, Wave reported positive proof-of-mechanism data from a Phase Ib/IIa trial of WVE-006 in AATD, while Korro Bio released preclinical data this month for its AATD investigational treatment, KRRO-110 . AIRNA had yet to release its adenosine deaminase acting on RNA (ADAR) preclinical data publicly as of July 2024. With all these investigational treatments aiming to transform the way AATD is treated, augmentation therapy could soon be obsolete. If efficacy data for RNA-based oligonucleotides is significant and points to clinical success, RNA-based oligonucleotides could hit the market as soon as four to five years from now. In the meantime, at the current trajectory, fazirsiran could reach the market as early as two to four years from now if all goes well. Given these developments in the AATD space, competition could heat up within the next decade as more efficacy data are released from therapies currently at earlier stages of development.

A single intravenous administration of Gene Writer™ resulted in an estimated 79% hepatocyte genomic editing with an average of 84% of mRNA transcripts containing the edited sequence in non-human primates (NHPs) at the SERPINA1 locus responsible for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD)In vivo proof-of-concept achieved for rewriting at carrier level efficiency (52%) of hemoglobin beta (HBB) gene, the locus responsible for sickle cell disease (SCD), in humanized mice with a single dose of Gene Writer delivered in Tessera’s proprietary lipid nanoparticle (LNP)Michael Holmes, Ph.D., Tessera’s Chief Scientific Officer, will present these data today in the session titled In Vivo Gene Editing in Preclinical Models from 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm CEST SOMERVILLE, Mass., Oct. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tessera Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering a new approach to genome engineering through the development of its Gene Writing™ and delivery platforms, is presenting updates from two of its in vivo genetic medicine programs, for AATD and SCD respectively, including updated rewriting efficiencies using a single dose of RNA Gene Writer combined with Tessera’s proprietary LNP. Additional data were presented on novel computational methods to comprehensively evaluate the genomic safety profile of RNA Gene Writers, highlighting Tessera’s advances towards integrated methods to quantify the specificity and safety of its Gene Writing platform. These new data will be shared in one oral presentation and two poster presentations at the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT) Annual Congress taking place in Rome, Italy, October 22 – 25, 2024. “The continued development of our Gene Writing and delivery platforms have resulted in rewriting efficiencies in preclinical models exceeding what we anticipate will be curative levels for AATD and SCD,” said Michael Severino, M.D., CEO of Tessera Therapeutics. “We believe these data represent an important step towards advancing potentially transformative in vivo genetic medicines for the treatment of two of the largest monogenic diseases, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and sickle cell disease.” In Vivo AATD Data Tessera presented new preclinical data from NHP studies in its AATD program using a single dose of RNA Gene Writer formulated with a proprietary LNP delivery vehicle. AATD is a monogenic disease of the liver, resulting in an abnormal form of the alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) protein that causes both lung and liver manifestations. Analysis of genomic DNA from whole liver samples collected from treated NHPs showed an estimated 79% rewriting efficiency of the SERPINA1 locus in hepatocytes1 on average. A supporting cDNA analysis demonstrated that an average of 84% of mRNA transcripts contained the edited sequence. These data improve upon the first-time demonstration of NHP proof-of-concept presented recently at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Meeting on Genome Engineering. Data were also presented of an optimized RNA Gene Writer that achieved therapeutically relevant levels of correction at very low doses in the PiZ mouse model, including an estimated 70% genomic DNA correction in hepatocytes, an average of 70% mRNA correction, and an average of 92% of serum AAT corrected at a dose of 0.05 mg/kg, and an estimated 95% genomic DNA correction in hepatocytes, an average of 93% mRNA correction, and an average of 100% serum AAT corrected at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg. In Vivo SCD Data Updated in vivo rewriting results of the HBB locus responsible for SCD in humanized mice showed that Gene Writers formulated in a proprietary LNP developed for delivery to hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) achieved an average rewriting efficiency of 52% in long-term hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSCs) after a single intravenous administration. These data build upon the HBB in vivo rewriting data first presented at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy 27th Annual Meeting. Additional data show rewriting efficiencies in NHPs exceeding 70% using a surrogate reagent, as well as the maintenance of in vivo HBB edited HSCs and engraftment levels upon secondary bone marrow transplant in humanized mice. 1 Based on the assumption that 60% of liver cells are comprised of hepatocytes About Tessera Therapeutics Tessera Therapeutics is pioneering a new approach to genome engineering through the development of its Gene Writing™ and delivery platforms, with the aim to unlock broad new therapeutic frontiers. Our Gene Writing platform is designed to write therapeutic messages into the genome by efficiently changing single or multiple DNA base pairs, precisely correcting insertions or deletions, or adding exon-length sequences and whole genes. Our proprietary lipid nanoparticle delivery platform is designed to enable the in vivo delivery of RNA to targeted cell types. We believe our Gene Writing and delivery platforms will enable transformative genetic medicines to not only cure diseases that arise from errors in a single gene, but also modify inherited risk factors for common diseases and create engineered cells to treat cancer and potentially autoimmune and other diseases. Tessera Therapeutics was founded in 2018 by Flagship Pioneering, a life sciences innovation enterprise that conceives, creates, resources, and develops first-in-category bioplatform companies to transform human health and sustainability. For more information about Tessera, please visit www.tesseratherapeutics.com. Contact Kristin Politi, Ph.D.LifeSci Communications, LLCkpoliti@lifescicomms.com