Discovery-phase pharmaceutical company
Editas Medicine, Inc.
Formerly Gengine, Inc. Company type
Public Industry Founded November 2013; 10 years ago (2013-11 ) , in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Founders Headquarters Cambridge, Massachusetts
, United States
Number of locations
2 Key people
Revenue US$19.7 million (2022) US$−226 million (2022) US$−220 million (2022)
Total assets US$514 million (2022)
Total equity US$361 million (2022)Number of employees
226 (2023) Website
editasmedicine .com Footnotes / references
[1]
Editas Medicine, Inc. , (formerly Gengine, Inc. ), is a clinical-stage
biotechnology company which is developing therapies for rare diseases based on
CRISPR gene editing technology.
[2]
[3] Editas headquarters is located in
Cambridge, Massachusetts and has facilities in
Boulder, Colorado .
[4]
[5]
[6]
History
Editas Medicine was originally founded with the name "Gengine, Inc." in September 2013 by
Feng Zhang of the
Broad Institute ,
Jennifer Doudna of the
University of California, Berkeley ,
[7] and
George Church ,
David Liu , and
J. Keith Joung of
Harvard University , with funding from
Third Rock Ventures ,
Polaris Partners and
Flagship Ventures ; the name was changed to the current "Editas Medicine" two months later. Doudna quit in June 2014 over legal differences concerning intellectual property of
Cas9 .
[8]
[9]
[10]
In August 2015, the company raised $120 million in
Series B funding from
Bill Gates and 13 other investors.
[11]
[12] it went public on 2 February 2016,
[2] via an
initial public offering that raised $94 million.
[13]
[14]
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.
[15] Juno was later acquired by
Celgene ,
[16] which was in turn acquired by
Bristol Myers Squibb .
[17]
The company announced in 2015 that it was planning a clinical trial in 2017 using CRISPR gene editing techniques to treat
Leber congenital amaurosis type 10 (LCA10), a rare genetic illness that causes blindness.
[18]
[10] On 30 November 2018, the
FDA gave permission to start the trials, under the investigational name EDIT-101 (also known as AGN-151587).
[19]
[20] In September 2021, a statement from Editas claimed that preliminary results from clinical trials were promising and support clinical benefits of EDIT-101 treatment.
[21]
In March 2020, Editas, in partnership with
Allergan , was the first to use CRISPR to try to edit DNA inside a person's body (
in vivo ). As part of the clinical trial, a patient who was nearly blind as a result of Leber's congenital amaurosis received an
intravitreal injection containing a harmless virus carrying CRISPR gene-editing instructions.
[22]
[23] Five months later, Editas reworked its deal with Allergan's owner
AbbVie and regained full rights to their range of eye disease treatment therapies, including EDIT-101 for the treatment of LCA10.
[24]
In 2019, the company was building new chemistry facilities in
Boulder, Colorado .
[5]
Katrine Bosley was CEO until 2019, when she was replaced by board member Cynthia Collins.
[25]
[26] Collins was replaced in 2021 by
James Mullen , who had been board chairman.
[27] Gilmore O'Neill, former CMO of
Sarepta Therapeutics , became CEO on June 1, 2022, with Mullen staying on as executive chairman of the board.
[28]
Research
Editas works with two different CRISPR
nucleases , Cas9 and
Cas12a .
[29]
EDIT-101 is a CRISPR based gene therapy for treatment of Leber congenital amaurosis, which is currently in clinical trials.
EDIT-301 is an experimental potential treatment utilizing the firm's CAS 12a editing technology for
sickle cell disease and
beta-thalassemia . In 2019 the firm reported early success in research on the drug;.
[30]
[31] In December 2020, it filed an IND application for treatment of sickle cell disease. In January 2021, it said it had received clearance from the FDA for
phase 1 safety studies.
[32]
References
^
"2022 Annual Report (Form 10-K)" . U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 22, 2023.
^
a
b
"The week in science: 5–11 February 2016" . Nature . 530 (7589). Business: CRISPR goes public. 10 Feb 2016.
Bibcode :
2016Natur.530..134. .
doi :
10.1038/530134a .
^
"Editas Wins FDA Approval for IND of CRISPR Treatment for LCA10" . Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News . 30 November 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2020 .
^ Werley, Jensen (5 September 2019).
"How Boulder biotech companies are putting Colorado on the gene-editing map" .
Denver Business Journal . Retrieved 27 October 2020 .
^
a
b Symington, Steve (20 August 2020).
"Editas Medicine Remains on Track" . The Motley Fool . Retrieved 20 August 2020 .
^
"Who We Are" . Editas Medicine . Retrieved 2022-02-25 .
^ Rockoff, Jonathan (2015-06-29).
"Why Gene-Editing Technology Has Scientists Excited" . Wall Street Journal .
ISSN
0099-9660 . Retrieved 2021-05-27 .
^
Isaacson, Walter (2021).
The Code Breaker .
Simon & Schuster . pp. 209–212.
ISBN
978-1-9821-1585-2 .
^ John Carroll (Nov 25, 2013).
"Biotech pioneer in 'gene editing' launches with $43M in VC cash" . FierceBiotech.
^
a
b Regalado, Antonio (2015-11-05).
"CRISPR Gene Editing to Be Tested on People by 2017, Says Editas" . MIT Technology Review . Retrieved 2016-06-21 .
^ Nowogrodzki, Anna (10 August 2015).
"Gene-Editing Startup Raises $120 Million to Apply CRISPR to Medicine" . MIT Technology Review . Retrieved 12 August 2020 .
^ Loria, Kevin (12 April 2018).
"Bill Gates says it would be a 'tragedy' to pass up a controversial, revolutionary gene-editing technology" .
Business Insider .
^ Pflanzer, Lydia (2 February 2016).
"A Bill Gates-backed startup that wants to edit your genes just raised nearly $100 million" .
Business Insider .
^ Fidler, Ben (2 February 2016).
"CRISPR Hits Wall Street as Editas Bags $94M in IPO" . Xconomy . Retrieved 12 August 2020 .
^
"Juno, Editas Launch Up-to-$737M+ Cancer Therapy Collaboration" .
Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News . 27 May 2015. Retrieved 2016-02-11 .
^ Lombardo, Cara (2018-01-22).
"Celgene to Buy Juno Therapeutics for $9 Billion" . Wall Street Journal .
ISSN
0099-9660 . Retrieved 2018-01-22 .
^
Bristol-Myers Squibb Completes Acquisition of Celgene, Creating a Leading Biopharma Company , PM BMS, November 20, 2019; retrieved May 20, 2020
^ Kuchler, Hannah (6 January 2020).
"Crispr puts first human in-body gene editing to test" .
Financial Times .
^
"First CRISPR therapy dosed" .
Nature . 38 (4): 382. 7 April 2020.
doi :
10.1038/s41587-020-0493-4 .
PMID
32265555 .
^ Sheridan, Cormac (14 December 2018).
"Go-ahead for first in-body CRISPR medicine testing" .
Nature .
doi :
10.1038/d41587-018-00003-2 .
S2CID
91818387 . Retrieved 21 December 2018 .
^
"Editas Medicine Announces Positive Initial Clinical Data From Ongoing Phase 1/2 BRILLIANCE Clinical Trial Of EDIT-101 For LCA10" . Editas Medicine . 29 September 2021.
Archived from the original on 2021-09-29. Retrieved 5 November 2021 .
^ Stein, Rob (4 March 2020).
"In A 1st, Scientists Use Revolutionary Gene-Editing Tool To Edit Inside A Patient" . NPR . Retrieved 12 August 2020 .
^ Terry, Mark (4 March 2020).
"Allergan and Editas Dose First Patient in Historic CRISPR Trial for Inherited Blindness" . BioSpace . Retrieved 12 August 2020 .
^ Fidler, Ben (7 August 2020).
"Editas, AbbVie rework gene editing deal as pioneering CRISPR trial resumes" . BioPharma Dive . Retrieved 12 August 2020 .
^ Dearment, Alaric (22 January 2019).
"Editas Medicine CEO steps down as company moves into product development stage" . MedCity News . Retrieved 12 August 2020 .
^ DeAngelis, Allison (6 August 2019).
"Editas became Cindy Collins. CEO" .
Boston Business Journal .
^ "Editas Medicine Announces Appointment Of James C. Mullen As Chief Executive Officer" (Press release). Editas Medicine. 8 February 2021.
^ Keown, Alex (14 April 2022).
"Gilmore O'Neill "Excited" to Take the Reins at Editas Medicine" . BioSpace . Retrieved 2 June 2022 .
^ Pickar-Oliver, Adrian; Gersbach, Charles A. (August 2019).
"The next generation of CRISPR–Cas technologies and applications" . Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology . 20 (8): 490–507.
doi :
10.1038/s41580-019-0131-5 .
ISSN
1471-0080 .
PMC
7079207 .
PMID
31147612 .
^ Rees, Victoria (20 June 2019).
"Experimental treatment for sickle cell disease success" . Drug Target Review . Retrieved 20 August 2020 .
^ Wong, Sandi (10 December 2019).
"Editas shows better gene editing using Cas9 alternative for sickle cell, thalassemia" . BioCentury . Retrieved 20 August 2020 .
^ Carvalho, Joana.
"FDA Clears Way for Trial of Gene Editing Therapy for Severe SCD" . Retrieved 2021-03-29 .