Avista Therapeutics Expands AI-Driven AAV Platform to Advance Gene Therapy

January 2026- Avista Therapeutics, a preclinical gene therapy company, announced a significant expansion of its gene therapy platform aimed at overcoming persistent challenges in adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy delivery, AAV capsid engineering, large gene payload delivery, and scalable AAV manufacturing.

The expansion includes an AI-driven enhancement of the company’s AAV capsid design program and the launch of a new Innovation Platform focused on large gene delivery and manufacturing constraints. The announcement was made from Pittsburgh.

Central to the expansion is ARTEMIS, an AI-powered AAV capsid engineering platform built on large non-human primate datasets generated using Avista’s proprietary scAAVengr-HUnT workflow. These datasets capture single-cell resolution data on millions of AAV variants across multiple AAV serotypes, tissues, routes of administration, and animal models.

According to Avista, ARTEMIS integrates machine learning, protein language models, and molecular dynamics simulations of AAV capsids. By combining sequence-based models with structural and mechanistic information, the platform aims to identify AAV capsid features linked to biological fitness, addressing known limitations of sequence-only AAV engineering approaches.

In parallel, Avista has launched an Innovation Platform designed to address technical barriers in AAV targeting, delivery of large genetic payloads beyond conventional AAV capacity, and scalable AAV manufacturing. The platform brings together expertise in structural biology, protein engineering, and clinical development to support next-generation AAV gene therapy design and production.

The expanded platform supports Avista’s growing preclinical pipeline, which extends beyond retinal AAV gene therapy to include programs targeting X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS), PRPF31-related retinal disease, and central nervous system (CNS) AAV gene therapy indications.