Business
Beam Therapeutics Reports Additional Data at ASGCT Annual Meeting and First Quarter 2020 Financial Results
Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Program Demonstrates More than Four-Fold Increase in Circulating Levels of Functional Protein Following Durable Direct
About this update from Beam Therapeutics Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Program Demonstrates More than Four-Fold Increase in Circulating Levels of Functional Protein Following Durable Direct Correction In Vivo\n Novel HbG-Makassar Program for Sickle Cell Disease Demonstrates Direct Correction Levels Greater than 80% with Corresponding HbS Globin Reduction to Less than 20% Base Editing Program to Recreate Hereditary Persistence of Fetal Hemoglobin Shows Greater than 90% Editing and 65% Increase in Gamma Globin Protein after 16 weeks Engraftment CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beam Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAM), a biotechnology company developing precision genetic medicines through base editing, today reported additional data from multiple oral and poster presentations during the ongoing 23rd American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting as well as its first quarter 2020 financial results. “The start to 2020 has been one of focused execution across our business and continued advancement of our proprietary base editing platform and portfolio, even with the uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic,” said John Evans, chief executive officer of Beam. “We are pleased to have a strong showing during ASGCT, in which we are presenting our first in vivo proof of concept for base editing in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency as well as two potentially best-in-class approaches for base editing in sickle cell disease, including the direct correction of the HbS point mutation. These data are a testament to the compelling therapeutic potential of base editors and, coupled with our financial strength following our initial public offering, position us to continue our comprehensive investment to develop base editors as a new class of precision genetic medicines for patients.” Updated Data Presented at ASGCT Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Program Demonstrates Proof-of-Concept in a Mouse Model: Beam reported additional data from its direct editing program for Alpha-1 in a poster at ASGCT titled “Use of Adenine Base Editors to Precisely Correct the Disease-Causing PiZ Mutation in Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency.” Updated data demonstrate that using Beam's adenine base editors (ABEs) to directly correct the PiZ mutation resulted in an average of 16.9% correction of beneficial alleles at seven days and 28.8% at three months. This significant increase over t...