Integra Therapeutics and the EIC Accelerator: Writing New Genes

Integra Therapeutics, incorporated near Barcelona in 2020 by Avencia Sánchez-Mejías and Marc Güell, an ICREA researcher at Pompeu Fabra University, develops FiCAT ("Find, Cut and Transfer"), a tool that combines an RNA-guided enzyme to find and cut a spot in the genome with a transposase that inserts large pieces of therapeutic DNA there. Its EIC Accelerator project receives an EU contribution of €2,496,375 and runs from December 2024 to November 2026, according to CORDIS. It aims to deliver FiCAT with lipid nanoparticles instead of viruses and to prepare a first gene therapy for a rare paediatric liver disease, up to studies that would support a clinical trial application.

When the award was announced in July 2024, Integra said it included a €2.5 million grant and up to €8 million of EIC equity, which the European Commission planned to invest when a Series A closed in 2025, according to Integra Therapeutics. In September 2025 Integra instead closed a €10.7 million pre-Series A, in which the EIC Fund invested €4 million and Spain's CDTI Innvierte €2.7 million, alongside existing investors AdBio Partners, Columbus Venture Partners, Invivo Partners and Takeda Ventures, according to Integra Therapeutics.

Where Integra Therapeutics Stands Now

Integra's work is preclinical. Its team presented data at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy meeting in Boston showing FiCAT inserting four therapeutic genes into a defined location while switching off an unwanted gene in a single step, relevant to making CAR-T cancer cell therapies, according to Integra Therapeutics. With Pompeu Fabra University and the Centre for Genomic Regulation it published AI-designed editing proteins in Nature Biotechnology, according to Integra Therapeutics. The Spanish register puts its sales in the €500,000 to €1 million bracket, according to Empresia.

The Technology: Cut, Then Paste Whole Genes

Many gene therapies use viruses to carry DNA into cells, which the EIC report says brings immune reactions, the risk of insertions in the wrong place and costly manufacturing. FiCAT targets the insertion and is delivered in lipid nanoparticles. Before the project, the report says, Integra had inserted DNA of up to 22 kilobases in cells and 11 kilobases in animals, and inserted the 9.2-kilobase LAMA2 gene in a mouse model of congenital muscular dystrophy, improving survival and mobility.

What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows

The project runs to November 2026 and covers optimisation and toxicity and efficacy studies in animals, not the clinical trial itself, so it is too early to judge it. The report after the first year describes the work plan and prior results but no new efficacy data in the liver disease. The first-in-human study the report names as the goal lies beyond the project.

1. LNP-delivered liver editingIn progressProject report.
2. IND-enabling studiesUnverifiedNo results published.
3. Cell engineering dataPresentedASGCT.
4. Series A with EIC equityPartialPre-Series A, €4M.

The Money

The EIC offered up to €8 million of equity and invested €4 million, in a smaller round than the Series A the company planned. Public investors, the EIC Fund and CDTI Innvierte, supplied €6.7 million of the €10.7 million. The round also funds preclinical validation of next-generation CAR-T therapies and technology transfer to the pharmaceutical industry, broadening the focus beyond the liver therapy the EIC grant targets.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

Inserting whole genes safely without viruses would make gene therapies cheaper to produce, which the EIC report ties to an EU priority on affordable advanced therapies. It is still years from a product.

The Verdict

Integra Therapeutics and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.