Former Moderna CMO Dr. Tal Zaks is leading Israeli gene editing company Averna Therapeutics in developing groundbreaking drugs for rare genetic diseases. The company, which raised $82 million last summer, is using mRNA technology, similar to that used in Covid vaccines, to develop a new approach to gene editing. Averna has the potential to develop drugs for cancer and autoimmune diseases in the future. The company's technology allows for gene therapy to be performed multiple times with less fear of an immune response, enabling the insertion of more genetic data. Averna has 35 employees and aims to keep research in Israel while sharing development between Israel and the US.