ChristianaCare spinout CorriXR is off to the races

“If you think about how fast the transition went from, like, a flip phone to an iPhone, that was unheard of,” Deborah Moorad, CEO of the gene editing startup CorriXR, told Technical.ly. “You just had this little phone that had a camera in it. And then all of a sudden you have this iPhone that does all this stuff. … That’s where medicine is right now.”

Moorad became CEO of the oncology-based biotech company in September. Launched in February 2022, CorriXR is the first spinout of ChristianaCare; CorriXR’s founder and Chief Scientific Officer Eric Kmiec is also the executive director and chief scientific officer of ChristianaCare’s Gene Editing Institute.

Deborah Moorad. (Courtesy Deborah Moorad)

Moorad has a personal connection to CorriXR’s foci since she was on a medical professional path for a chunk of her life.

“It was kind of my destiny to become a physician,” Moorad said. “That kind of evolved. My grandfather had a triple bypass, l was in like sixth grade. I was like, ‘OK, well, I’m going to be a cardiovascular surgeon.’”

She took the med school route but ultimately turned her attention to biomedical startups and patents, including working on a drug for brain cancer. She also spent nearly five years as CEO of Nature Technology Corporation, which was purchased by Aldevron this year.

“It really resonated with me,” she said of the work. “I have a love for medicine, I have love for science. I really resonated with working with scientists and researchers. And having that med school track in me really helps me bridge that science to the boardroom.”

CorriXR’s gene editing technology began as research and development at the Gene Editing Institute going back to 2015. It was initially funded with $5 million from ChristianaCare and Brookhaven Bio. Since then, it raised another $500,000 from a confidential strategic partner and is closing on another $1 million in venture funding.

Since Moorad officially met the CorriXR team in June at the Bio International Conference, their focus has been on launching a basket trial — a medical trial that tests for multiple types of cancer.

“We obviously have to manufacture material, there’s some supply chain issues that come up there, but we’re looking at a clinical trial around the end of next year or the beginning of 2025, which is remarkable,” Moorad said.

Those trials will be some of the first of their kind, Moorad said.

“So you’re kind of setting a precedent moving forward, so it’s just very exciting,” she said.

The easiest way to explain the gene editing treatment CorriXR is developing is that, rather than adding another substance into the patient, it targets genes that are resistant to the cancer drugs they’re taking and essentially removes a barrier to make those drugs more effective at fighting the cancer.

If you need a visual aid of gene editing in general, here is a short video from the Gene Editing Institute:

It’s a high-pressure position. Outside of work, Moorad challenges herself in another way, as an ultrarunner.

“When I sold Nature Tech, I ran my first 50-miler,” she said. “Through the process of going through one of the biggest acquisitions, I was training and completing this 50-mile run. And now, I’m here with CorriXR and I’ve just signed up for my first 100-mile run. There’s something very, almost, symbolic. For me, the running side really allows me to process and to be thankful and, you know, when you’re out there running you can see the sunrise and process whatever’s in your mind.”

Achieving the 100-mile run is just part of what Moorad sees as an ongoing journey of personal and far-reaching, high-impact possibilities.

“Eric and the team did a tremendous job of working on the research and getting to this point, so I’m very excited,”  Moorad said. “It’s going to be an exciting ride and journey. And the economic impact [on Delaware and the region], it’s huge — it’s a lasting footprint for years to come.”