Advertisement
UK markets close in 5 hours 1 minute
  • FTSE 100

    7,956.82
    +24.84 (+0.31%)
     
  • FTSE 250

    19,867.17
    +56.51 (+0.29%)
     
  • AIM

    743.47
    +1.36 (+0.18%)
     
  • GBP/EUR

    1.1695
    +0.0026 (+0.23%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2625
    -0.0013 (-0.10%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    56,026.70
    +526.17 (+0.95%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,248.49
    +44.91 (+0.86%)
     
  • DOW

    39,760.08
    +477.75 (+1.22%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    82.43
    +1.08 (+1.33%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,231.90
    +19.20 (+0.87%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • DAX

    18,500.78
    +23.69 (+0.13%)
     
  • CAC 40

    8,239.09
    +34.28 (+0.42%)
     

Editas Inks Deal for Gene Editing Neurological Disease Drugs

Editas Medicine, Inc. EDIT announced that it has entered into a strategic research collaboration with privately held gene therapy company Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (AskBio) to jointly explore in vivo delivery of genome editing medicines for treating neurological diseases.

The collaboration will integrate AskBio's AAV technology and clinical-stage manufacturing with Editas' genome editing technologies to innovative genome editing medicines for treating neurological diseases with high unmet need.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Shares of Editas have lost 10.9% so far this year compared with the industry’s decrease of 6.4%.

Notably, Editas makes medicines to treat serious diseases using its proprietary genome editing platform based on CRISPR technology.

ADVERTISEMENT

The company's lead pipeline candidate is EDIT-101 which uses CRISPR gene editing to treat Leber congenital amaurosis type 10 (LCA10) – a rare genetic illness that causes blindness.

Editas is developing EDIT-101 in partnership with Allergan AGN. Both companies plan to initiate patient dosing in the phase I/II dose escalation study called Brilliance on EDIT-101 for addressing LCA10 in the second half of 2019. The study opened for patient enrolment in July.

The company is also pursuing the development of CRISPR candidates for eye diseases other than LCA10, which include Usher Syndrome type 2A (USH2A) and the recurrent ocular Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1).

Meanwhile, Editas has some high-profile collaborations with big pharma entities for its CRISPR technology, which provide research support and sufficient funds to fulfill its pipeline development plans. Apart from Allergan, it has a collaboration and licensing pact with Juno Therapeutics — now part of Celgene CELG — to use the latter’s gene-editing approaches including CRISPR-Cas9 for developing the engineered T cell medicines to tackle cancer.

In April 2019, Editas inked a research and cross licensing deal with privately held BlueRock Therapeutics, LP, to combine the respective genome editing and cell-therapy technologies to discover, develop and manufacture novel engineered cell medicines.

Zacks Rank & Key Pick

Editas currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

A better-ranked stock in the healthcare sector is Incyte Corporation INCY, which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Incyte’s earnings estimates have been revised 1.5% upward for 2019 and 1.5% for 2020 over the past 60 days. The stock has rallied 23.5% year to date.

Free: Zacks’ Single Best Stock Set to Double

Today you are invited to download our just-released Special Report that reveals 5 stocks with the most potential to gain +100% or more in 2020. From those 5, Zacks Director of Research, Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.

This pioneering tech ticker had soared to all-time highs and then subsided to a price that is irresistible. Now a pending acquisition could super-charge the company’s drive past competitors in the development of true Artificial Intelligence. The earlier you get in to this stock, the greater your potential gain.

Download Free Report Now >>


Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
Allergan plc (AGN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Incyte Corporation (INCY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Editas Medicine, Inc. (EDIT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Celgene Corporation (CELG) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research