Business
Beam Therapeutics Announces First Development Candidates for Sickle Cell Disease and Reports Second Quarter 2020 Results
BEAM-101 and BEAM-102 Named as Development Candidates Targeting Distinct Approaches to Treating Sickle Cell Disease Lease Agreement Signed to Build In-house
About this update from Beam Therapeutics Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"BEAM-101 and BEAM-102 Named as Development Candidates Targeting Distinct Approaches to Treating Sickle Cell Disease\n Lease Agreement Signed to Build In-house Manufacturing Facility Dedicated to Producing Base Editing Therapeutics Broad Partnering Strategy Continues to Advance and Expand the Therapeutic Application of Novel Base Editing Technologies CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beam Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAM), a biotechnology company developing precision genetic medicines through base editing, today reported pipeline updates, recent business highlights and second quarter 2020 financial results. “Throughout the first half of 2020, we made significant progress across all aspects of our business, culminating into naming the first two base editing development candidates from our portfolio. As we move closer to the clinic, we have also made the important strategic decision to establish a build-to-suit manufacturing facility, which will significantly enhance our capability to manufacture a wide range of base editing medicines,” said John Evans, chief executive officer of Beam. “In addition, we continue to execute our strategy of establishing innovative partnerships to access new capabilities and to accelerate the development of base editors as a new class of precision genetic medicines for patients. Amidst the evolving COVID-19 situation, our team is performing well, and we remain on track to initiate IND-enabling studies in 2020 and file at least one Investigational New Drug application in 2021.” Giuseppe Ciaramella, Ph.D., president and chief scientific officer of Beam added, “Achieving our first development candidates with base editing is one of the most important milestones for our company yet. BEAM-101 and BEAM-102 are highly differentiated editing programs that may enable a one-time treatment option for patients with sickle cell disease. Both candidates are supported by promising preclinical data, and we are working to advance them to the next stage of development to assess the impact they could have in treating this devastating disease.” Base Editing Progress First Base Editing Development Candidates Named for Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease: Beam is pursuing two differentiated base editing approaches to treat hemoglobinopathies and recently named the first two development candidates from its portf...