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Beam Therapeutics is a synthetic biology company using CRISPR to develop a portfolio of genetic medicines that is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was founded in 2017 by David R. Liu, Feng Zhang, J. Keith Joung, and John Evans. The company developed a genome editing platform capable of making permanent base pair changes in DNA or RNA without making any cuts into strands of DNA.
The following companies and organizations are involved in partnership agreements with Beam Therapeutics: Harvard University, Editas Medicine, Broad Institute, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
On May 14, 2018 beam therapeutics completed their series A funding round with $87 million in funding lead by F-Prime Capital Partners and ARCH Ventures.
On March 6, 2019 Beam therapeutics completed their series B funding round with $135 million in funding from F-Prime Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Eight Roads Ventures, Omega Funds, Redmile Group, LLC, Cormorant Asset Management, GV, Altitude Life Science Ventures, and additional undisclosed investors.
Following Beam Therapeutics series B funding the CEO of the company, John Evans told reporters:
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.
Beam Therapeutics is an American biotechnology company conducting research in the field of gene therapies and genome editing. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the development of therapies, the company relies on CRISPR and prime editing, whereby DNA sequences can be modified even more precisely compared to previous methods.
Founded in 2017, the company traces its origins to the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Co-founders include David R. Liu and Feng Zhang. Prior to its IPO, the company raised nearly $1 billion in venture capital from investors. In a February 2020 IPO, the company raised $180 million. The first clinical trials for therapies are expected in 2021.
