lunes, 30 de septiembre de 2019

Beam Therapeutics plans to go public

The Readout
Damian Garde

Beam Therapeutics plans to go public

It was just last year that Beam Therapeutics came out of stealth. Now the Cambridge, Mass.-based startup has filed for a $100 million IPO.

Beam, which is working on base editing and helmed by the world’s leading CRISPR’ers — including Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute — has raised about $222 million to date, buoyed by a $135 million Series B round this past March. 
The company likens its base editing technology to a pencil, as it can erase and rewrite a single letter in the gene. The standard analogy for CRISPR, of course, is that it works like a pair of scissors — excising a small segment of genetic data.
The company will use the new funding for continued R&D, as well as for IMD-enabling studies and clinical trials, it said in its prospectus. Beam’s most advanced programs are in sickle cell and beta thalassemia — as well as in CAR-T applications for leukemia. 

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