Excision BioTherapeutics

Excision BioTherapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing CRISPR-based medicines as potential cures for serious chronic viral infectious diseases. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, the company was co-founded by Kamel Khalili, Ph.D., a virologist at Temple University who pioneered early CRISPR work on HIV. Excision's proprietary multiplexed gene editing platform combines next-generation CRISPR nucleases with a novel in vivo delivery approach to develop curative single-dose therapies. The company's lead program, EBT-101, is a CRISPR-based gene therapy targeting HIV-1, designed to excise viral DNA from infected cells following a single intravenous infusion. EBT-101 received FDA Fast Track designation and completed a Phase 1/2 clinical trial (EBT-101-001), meeting its primary safety endpoint and secondary biodistribution endpoints, though it did not demonstrate prevention of viral rebound upon antiretroviral therapy interruption. Beyond HIV, Excision's pipeline includes EBT-104 for herpes simplex virus (HSV-1 and HSV-2), which reduced viral DNA by over 99.99% in preclinical models, and EBT-107 for hepatitis B virus (HBV), which achieved 98% reduction in HBV DNA in mouse models. The company targets large underserved patient populations where existing treatments suppress but do not cure disease.