A symbiotech union

Two young biotechs are developing a symbiotic partnership to expand the safety and reach of genome-edited treatments.

Beam Therapeutics, which is using a next-gen CRISPR technique called base editing, announced this morning that it is working with Magenta Therapeutics to pair its experimental bone marrow conditioning agent to prepare patients to receive gene-edited cells.

Beam’s technology can edit single letters in the genome, and is meant to help treat inherited blood disorders like sickle cell anemia. Magenta, meanwhile, is working on an antibody linked to a cell-killing toxin that helps ready a patient’s bone marrow for Beam’s experimental therapeutic.