Notice Title

Determination of a New Organism

Pursuant to section 26 of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (“Act”), the Environmental Protection Authority hereby determines the experimental gene therapy TSRA-196 and other target-primed reverse transcriptase/prime editing systems, as further described in Table 1 are not organisms and therefore are not new organisms for the purpose of the Act.

Table 1. Description of TSRA-196 and other target-primed reverse transcriptase/prime editing systems that are not organisms

System

Description

TSRA-196

Two chemically modified RNA drug substances formulated in a lipid nanoparticle delivery vehicle. The two chemically modified RNA drug substances are:

  • A messenger RNA encoding a nickase Cas enzyme (that introduces a single-strand DNA break) fused to a reverse transcriptase domain, linked via a protein linker.
  • A template guide RNA directing the gene editing correction of the Alpha-1 antitrypsin gene PiZ genomic variant back to the PiM wild type sequence.

and is incapable of self-replication, in whole, or in part.

Other target-primed reverse transcriptase/prime editing systems

Two or more RNA molecules, which can be chemically modified or contain non-standard nucleotides, formulated in a lipid nanoparticle delivery vehicle, as described below:

  • One or more messenger RNA molecules encoding a nickase Cas enzyme (that introduces a single-strand DNA break) fused to a reverse transcriptase domain, and potentially other protein domain fusions, linked via protein linkers.
  • One or more additional messenger RNA molecules intended to enhance the effectiveness of the prime editing process.
  • One or more template guide RNA molecules directing one or more gene editing changes to a specific genomic locus (eg, a gene) from its native sequence to a desired new sequence.

and is incapable of self-replication, in whole, or in part.


Dated at Wellington this 9th day of December 2025.

LYNETTE BROWNFIELD, Chair, decision-making committee of the Authority.

Note: This notice is a replacement of New Zealand Gazette, 12 December 2025, Notice No. 2025-au7223.