The CRISPR companies are not OK How hype, scientific setbacks, and growing investor demands humbled the gene editing industry

https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/06/crispr-gene-editing-medical-breakthrough-not-matched-by-financial-success/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9oWTiHzwTzUMszbX2dJRdCPSH4y1jY_oi__ZQdPhSRMictqDbmcvnMXI0CAUc1SErw20tDA4adT9CPiAujvoNwCT1AmA&_hsmi=345985342&utm_content=345985342&utm_source=hs_email The gene editing tool CRIPSR was supposed to change medicine — just five years ago, a Nobel Prize committee announced that it “may make the dream of curing inherited diseases come true.” Billions of dollars were spent chasing that dream, but key scientific hurdles remained unsolved. Now, even when companies achieve encouraging results, that can’t seem to stop their stocks from tanking. Put simply, STAT’s Jason Mast writes, “there are surprisingly few places today where you can both cure a disease with gene editing and make money.” For his latest story, Jason interviewed more than 75 investors, academics, executives, analysts, and employees to figure out where, exactly, the vision went off course. Read more. (Come for the analysis and stay for the similes. In one section about the hype around CRISPR, Jason describes it “like dropping a 3D printer into a medieval workshop.” Later, he says the tool has become “as indispensable to lab scientists as whisks are to pastry chefs.”)