Editas Medicine Announces Pricing of Offering of Common Stock

Rare Daily Staff

Editas Medicine raised $125 million in a public offering one week after reporting positive initial data from a trial of its gene editing therapy for the rare inherited blood disorder diseases sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia.

The company priced 12.5 million shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $10.00 per share, before deducting underwriter discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses. Editas also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1.9 million shares of common stock on the same terms and conditions.

Editas’ investigational therapy EDIT-301 consists of patient-derived CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells edited at the gamma globin gene (HBG1 and HBG2) promoters, where naturally occurring fetal hemoglobin (HbF) inducing mutations reside. Red blood cells derived from EDIT-301 CD34+ cells demonstrate a sustained increase in fetal hemoglobin production, which has the potential to provide a one-time, durable treatment benefit for people living with severe sickle cell disease (SCD) and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia (TDT).

In sickle cell disease, the red blood cells are misshapen in a sickle shape instead of a typical disc shape. The abnormal shape causes the red blood cells to have shortened lifespan and to block blood flow causing anemia, pain crises, organ failure, and early death.

In beta thalassemia, insufficient beta globin production leads to ineffective red blood cell production, chronic hemolytic anemia, the creation of blood cells outside of the bone marrow, and requirement for regular blood transfusion support in patients with TDT, the most severe form of beta thalassemia, which can lead to iron overload causing organ dysfunction and failure.