Educational information, not investment advice
The economics of gene editing
How this industry is financed, what the money actually pays for, and why clinical success is so hard to predict.
Public companies
Gene-editing companies with listed shares in CRISPR Decoded. We do not carry live market data. Figures like market capitalisation change constantly, so we link you to the primary sources instead of showing a number that would be wrong by the time you read it.
| Company | Ticker | Exchange | Headquarters | Platform | Lead stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRISPR Therapeutics | CRSP | Nasdaq | Zug, Switzerland | CRISPR-Cas9 platform | Approved |
| Intellia Therapeutics | NTLA | Nasdaq | Cambridge, Massachusetts | In vivo CRISPR platform | Phase III |
| Beam Therapeutics | BEAM | Nasdaq | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Base editing platform | Phase III |
| Editas Medicine | EDIT | Nasdaq | Cambridge, Massachusetts | In vivo editing | Preclinical |
| Prime Medicine | PRME | Nasdaq | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Prime editing platform | Phase I/II |
| Caribou Biosciences | CRBU | Nasdaq | Berkeley, California | Cell therapy | Phase I |
| Sana Biotechnology | SANA | Nasdaq | Seattle, Washington | Cell engineering | Phase I |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals | VRTX | Nasdaq | Boston, Massachusetts | Large biotechnology | Approved |
| Sangamo Therapeutics | SGMO | Nasdaq | Richmond, California | Zinc finger platform | Phase III |
| Eli Lilly and Company | LLY | NYSE | Indianapolis, Indiana | Large pharmaceutical | Phase II |
Private companies
Venture-backed and privately held. Funding figures come from company announcements and are dated on each profile.
Boston, Massachusetts
Verve Therapeutics
Built to turn heart disease into a one-time treatment, and acquired by Eli Lilly in 2025…
Raised: Acquired by Eli Lilly for ~$1 billion plus CVR
Alameda, California
Scribe Therapeutics
Co-founded by Jennifer Doudna to engineer CRISPR enzymes from scratch rather than use the…
Brisbane, California
Mammoth Biosciences
Co-founded by Jennifer Doudna around ultra-compact CRISPR proteins small enough to fit…
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Arbor Biotechnologies
Co-founded by Feng Zhang and David Scott to discover new editing enzymes from nature at…
Somerville, Massachusetts
bluebird bio
A pioneer of lentiviral gene addition with several approved therapies, and a cautionary…
Somerville, Massachusetts
Tessera Therapeutics
Developing 'gene writing': mobile genetic elements repurposed to insert whole sequences…
Durham, North Carolina
Tune Therapeutics
Turning genes up and down without changing sequence: epigenetic editing taken into early…
Industry lists
Understanding the economics
Why a one-time treatment is a hard business, what a priority review voucher is worth, and how a gene therapy gets priced.
Company, funding and deal news
From named publishers; every headline links to the original.
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Merck KGaA to buy Silence Therapeutics and its siRNA pipeline for $1.3B
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ADC Development from Concept to Clinic
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Estuary debuts with $103M to develop kidney disease gene therapies
Estuary Biotherapeutics raised the curtain on Friday with $103 million to support the advancement of two preclinical gene therapy candidates for the most…
Parkinson's cell therapy biotech Aspen and I&I startup Bambusa file for IPOs
A Gilead-backed cell therapy maker and an I&I biotech from BioNTech vets are looking to ride the biotech industry's IPO momentum. Aspen Neuroscience and…
Where to get the numbers we do not carry
Company filings
For US-listed companies, the SEC EDGAR system carries annual (10-K) and quarterly (10-Q) reports, including cash position and operating expenses: the two figures that matter most for a pre-revenue biotech.
Trial status
ClinicalTrials.gov is the authoritative registry for studies registered in the United States, including start dates, enrolment and posted results.
Regulatory decisions
FDA approval letters and EMA assessment reports state exactly what was authorised, for whom, and on what evidence, far more precisely than any summary.