Beam Therapeutics Secures $135 Million to advance CRISPR technologies

Beam Therapeutics announced the successful completion of a $135 million Series B financing. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance the company’s development of next-generation CRISPR technologies, expand its pipeline of base editing programs, and further extend its scientific and technical leadership.

Participants in the Series B included new investors Redmile Group, LLC, Cormorant Asset Management, GV, Altitude Life Science Ventures, and additional undisclosed investors, along with continued support by existing investors, including F-Prime Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Eight Roads Ventures, and Omega Funds.

Over half of the genetic errors associated with disease result from a single-letter change in the billions of nucleobases (“bases”) that form the human genome. In other cases, certain natural genetic variations in DNA are known to protect against diseases. Beam’s foundational technologies are capable of editing the genome at the level of a single letter – A, G, C, T – without cutting the DNA or RNA strands. By precisely modifying the genome to eliminate errors or write in protective changes, Beam’s novel approach to base editing may help prevent, modify and potentially cure a wide range of diseases affecting patients’ lives.

“Since the launch of Beam last year, we have made significant progress toward our goal of developing base editors as a new class of precision genetic medicines,” said John Evans, chief executive officer of Beam Therapeutics. “We now have 10 active programs underway and have expanded our team to more than 70 employees. We are thrilled to have the support and partnership from this group of world-class investors to help us achieve our mission. With this funding, we will continue to expand our team and capabilities, extend our leadership position in base editing technology, and move our pipeline towards clinical development where we hope to make an impact for patients with serious genetic diseases.”