Editas Medicine and Dyne Therapeutics Raise Combined $399 Million in Public Offerings

Rare Daily Staff

Two biotech companies hit the public markets to raise a combined $399 million in underwritten public offerings, bringing the total raised over two days by companies focused on rare disease therapeutics to almost $800 million.

Gene editing biotech Editas Medicine raised $231 million in a public offering of 3.5 million shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $66.00 per share, before deducting underwriter discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses. In addition, Editas granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 525,000 shares of common stock.

Editas Medicine is focused on translating the power and potential of its CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR/Cas12a genome editing systems into a pipeline of treatments for people living with serious diseases, including sickle cell disease, an inherited painful blood disorder, and Leber Congenital Amaurosis, an inherited form of blindness caused by mutations in the CEP290 gene.

Dyne Therapeutics, a company focused on rare muscle disease therapies, raised $168 million through an underwritten public offering of 6 million shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $28.00 per share. In addition, Dyne granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 900,000 additional shares of common stock at the public offering price, less the underwriting discount and commissions.

Dyne is focused on developing oligonucleotide therapies for serious monogenic neuromuscular diseases, including programs in the rare genetic wasting diseases myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD).

Dyne’s platform specifically targets muscle, minimizing systemic exposure. The company has completed preclinical studies indicating that this approach can deliver oligonucleotides that degrade disease-causing RNA, potentially restoring muscle health.

The company’s lead program targets DM1, a rare, inherited disorder that causes progressive muscle weakness and other life-limiting complications. DM1 is a monogenic autosomal dominant disease caused by an abnormal expansion in a region of the DMPK gene. There are currently no disease-modifying treatments for DM1, which affects an estimated 40,000 people in the United States.

Dyne’s preclinical therapy consists of a proprietary antibody conjugated with a linker to an antisense oligonucleotide that is designed to reduce the levels of mutant DMPK RNA in the nucleus, releasing splicing proteins, allowing normal mRNA processing and translation of normal proteins, and potentially reversing disease.