CEO John Evans was most recently SVP Corporate Development and Portfolio Leadership at Agios Pharmaceuticals and is also a Venture Partner with ARCH.
In return, Editas Medicine has received an equity stake in Beam and will be eligible for royalties on medicines utilizing the related intellectual property and technologies.īeam is launching with up to $87 million in cumulative Series A funding for Beam and an affiliated entity, led by F-Prime Capital Partners and ARCH Venture Partners. Patent filings by MGH for CRISPR technology developed in the Joung Lab, as well as an exclusive option for future sublicensing of additional Cas9 patent families and Cpf1 patent families in the field of base editing. Under this agreement, Beam has received an exclusive sublicense to patent filings by Harvard for base editing technologies developed in the Liu Lab and
In a second agreement with the Broad Institute, Beam is able to acquire RNA base editing technologies from Zhang’s lab.This includes the RNA editor platform (“REPAIR”), first published in Science in 2017, which features Cas13 linked to an adenosine deaminase to deliver single base A-to-G editing of RNA transcripts.īoth licenses provide an initial period of exclusivity for human therapeutic use, after which time there is a mechanism to extend a license to others on an individual gene target basis, if the technology is not being actively developed for that target.įinally, Beam has entered into a licensing and option agreement with Editas Medicine for exclusive rights to certain intellectual property licensed to Editas Medicine by Harvard, the Broad Institute, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), as well as to certain Editas Medicine technologies. The second is the A base editor (“ABE”), published in Nature in 2017, which features Cas9 linked to an evolved form of adenosine deaminase capable of editing DNA to deliver programmable A-to-G or T-to-C edits. The first is the C base editor (“BE”), originally published in Nature in 2016, which features Cas9 linked to a cytidine deaminase to deliver programmable C-to-T or G-to-A edits in DNA. This license covers two base editing platforms developed in Liu’s lab in Harvard’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. Leading Portfolio of Base Editing Intellectual Property and Technologiesīeam has assembled the leading portfolio of base editing intellectual property across multiple foundational base editing platforms.īeam’s first license agreement is with Harvard University for base editing technologies in the field of human therapeutics. “Base editors are capable of making single-base changes with high efficiency and unprecedented control,” said Beam CEO John Evans, adding, “Beam has assembled the key technologies in base editing and is dedicated to establishing base editors as a new therapeutic option for patients with serious diseases.” Base editors are capable of precisely targeting and directly editing just one base out of billions within the genome, without cutting the DNA or RNA.īeam aims to use these technologies to generate a broad pipeline of precision genetic medicines that repair disease-causing point mutations, write in protective genetic variations, or modulate the expression or function of disease-causing genes. DNA is made up of billions of nucleobases, or “bases,” each represented by a single letter (A, G, T, C), which are subsequently encoded in RNA messages for expression by the cell. Co-founded by scientific pioneers known for advancing CRISPR gene editing, Beam is the first company to pursue development of new therapies using CRISPR base editing technology.īeam’s research will focus on multiple DNA base editor platforms developed in the lab of David Liu, Ph.D., at Harvard University, as well as on the RNA base editor platform developed by Feng Zhang, Ph.D., at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. May 14, 2018, Cambridge, Mass.-Beam Therapeutics announced today that it is launching to develop precision genetic medicines that make edits to individual base pairs in the genetic code. Led by John Evans as CEO and Giuseppe Ciaramella, Ph.D., as CSO.Up to $87M cumulative Series A funding led by F-Prime Capital Partners and ARCH Venture Partners.Leading IP portfolio assembled from foundational licenses from Harvard University, the Broad Institute, MIT, and Editas Medicine across multiple base editing platforms.Co-founded by scientific pioneers David R.Base editing technology builds on CRISPR to enable single-letter editing of DNA and RNA.Course: Introduction to Synthetic Biology.Biomanufacturing, chemicals & materials.