Cambridge gene editing startup Editas Medicine just filed for a $100 million IPO, marking it the first company that uses CRISPR technology to go public.
The company’s rise has been rapid: It was launched in 2013 with a $43 million Series A and this past August, Editas raised an impressive $120 million Series B round. Notably, by the close of September 2015 Editas had an accumulated deficit of $75.7 million – meaning that it’s put its dollars to work rather quickly.
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Here’s an interesting infographic from the prospectus that outlines Editas’ plans for expansion, in a three-step plan. Each figure accounts for 5,000 patients with inherited diseases that could benefit from a therapy that corrects the disease-causing genes.
Editas wagers, for instance, that diseases of the eye will simple edits and can be addressed quickly:
Editas has more than a dozen discovery research programs underway, it says in the prospectus.
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Gene therapies are particularly effective in diseases of the eye because the treatments can stay localized. Because of this, its most advanced program is Leber Congenital Amaurosis type 10, or LCA10, which is a form of progressive blindness. Editas plans to kick off a proof-of-concept clinical trial for LCA10 by 2017.
Editas also has programs studying CRISPR’s use in diseases of the liver, lung, blood and muscle. It’s working with immuno-oncology player Juno Therapeutics to enhance the function of T-cells in fighting cancer – and is on the prowl for further partnerships, the company says. Here’s a closer look at its pipeline:
Editas has 20 issued U.S. and European patents, and 200 pending patent applications. In the prospectus, Editas cited its competitors as Caribou Biosciences, CRISPR Therapeutics and Intellia Therapeutics.