Editas trades Vertex fees for upfront cash in DRI deal

Dive Brief:

• Gene editing company Editas Medicines has sold off license fees and future payments it’s owed under an agreement with Vertex Pharmaceuticals to DRI Healthcare Trust for $57 million upfront.
• Last year, Vertex paid Editas $50 million for rights to its CRISPR technology, promising another $50 million in future payments as well as annual licensing fees of up to $40 million. The deal came days after Vertex’s CRISPR-based treatment for sickle cell disease, Casgevy, was approved in the U.S.
• Under Thursday’s agreement, DRI Healthcare Trust will receive up to 100% of future annual license fees which could range between $5 million to $40 million, as well as a mid-double-digit percentage of Editas’ portion of the $50 million contingent payment from Vertex. Editas retains rights to fixed annual license fees this year, and plans to invest the $57 million from DRI developing its pipeline.

Dive Insight:

Editas, one of the original biotechnology companies formed to advance CRISPR gene editing, has been working through a multi-year rebuild.

Amid clinical delays, Editas went through substantial executive turnover. And at the beginning of last year, the company cut one-fifth of its workforce and trimmed its pipeline, including experimental treatments for two eye diseases. The company’s chief scientific officer Mark Shearman, who had joined in 2021, stepped down from his role then, too.

In July, Editas tapped Biogen veteran Linda Burkly to replace Shearman, and has turned its focus to a therapy for sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. The company expects to read out more clinical trial data by the end of this year.

The $57 million from DRI will further pad Editas’ balance sheet. As of June 30, 2024, Editas held $318 million in cash and cash equivalents, which it expected to last into 2026.

Gilmore O’Neill, Editas’ CEO, said in a statement that the company would put the new funds to work “immediately as we develop our pipeline of future medicines.”

Other biotech companies have struck similar deals to trade future payments for upfront funds, among them Agios Pharmaceuticals and BridgeBio Pharma.

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