Editas Medicine

Editas Medicine is a discovery-phase pharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts which aims to develop therapies based on CRISPR–Cas9 gene editing technology.[1] The company went public on 2 Feb 2016.[1] This initial public offering was noted as being the first such from a company which aims to "DNA itself to internally treat afflictions".[2] The company has conceded that “It will be many years, if ever, before we have a product candidate ready for commercialization.”[2] Further, the company's valuation depends on a single patent, which holder was in dispute as of early 2016, presenting a major risk to the company's continued viability.[2]

The company entered into a strategic collaboration with Juno Therapeutics in 2015 to combine its CRISPR-Cas9 technology with Juno's experience in creating chimeric antigen receptor and high-affinity T cell receptor therapeutics to the end of developing cancer therapeutics.[3]

Direct competitors to Editas include Crispr Therapeutics, Intellia Therapeutics, and Caribou Biosciences.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Staff (10 Feb 2016). "The week in science: 5–11 February 2016". Nature 530. Business: CRISPR goes public. doi:10.1038/530134a.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Fye, Shaan (9 Jan 2016). "Genetic Rough Draft: Editas and CRISPR". The Atlas Business Journal. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  3. ↑ Staff (27 May 2015). "Juno, Editas Launch Up-to-$737M+ Cancer Therapy Collaboration". Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, February 11, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.