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☆ Beam Therapeutics to cut 20% of workforce as part of restructuring plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies Beam Therapeutics Inc FollowOct 19 (Reuters) - Beam Therapeutics (BEAM.O) said on Thursday it will focus on developing its experimental sickle cell disease treatments and reduce about 20% of its current workforce, or 100 employees, as part of a restructuring plan. The gene-editing specialist expects to incur one-time expenses of about $6.6 million related to the workforce reduction, which it plans to complete in the fourth quarter. Its experimental sickle cell disease treatments include early-stage candidate BEAM-101, which activates fetal hemoglobin, the dominant form of hemoglobin present in the fetus during gestation. Beam will pause the development of its hepatitis B virus candidate, currently being evaluated in lab studies, and explore partnership opportunities for it. Reporting by Bhanvi Satija and Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi MajumdarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Beam, David Liu, Feng Zhang, J Keith Joung, Bhanvi Satija, Christy Santhosh, Shilpi Majumdar Organizations: Beam Therapeutics, U.S . Food, Drug Administration, Thomson Locations: Cambridge , Massachusetts, Bengaluru

"The price of global rice prices is particularly worrying," Qingfeng Zhang, a senior director from the Asian Development Bank, told CNBC. Other than India, food inflation has been relatively tame in Asia so far this year. Underscoring how higher food prices erode purchasing power, ADB suggested at that time that a 10% rise in domestic food prices in developing Asia would push 64.4 million into poverty, based on the $1.25-a-day poverty line. Moreover, this spike in rice prices is happening amidst widespread lower food prices. watch nowThis means any spikes in food prices will only translate to food inflation toward the end of this year or early 2024.

Persons: Qingfeng Zhang, El Niño, Niño, Erica Tay, Tay, Tay . Rice, Xi Jinping, Morgan Stanley, Maybank Nomura, Sonal Varma, Si Ying Toh, Nomura, Paul Hughes, Hughes, Global's Hughes Organizations: Istock, Asian Development Bank, CNBC, ADB, United Nations, FAO, Tay . Locations: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, Asia, India, Thailand, China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Tay, U.S, El, Australia, Pacific, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Philippines, Malaysia

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Persons: Dyson, we've, it's, Junfeng Zhang Organizations: Amazon, Samsung, Alexa, LG, Duke University Locations: Michigan

☆ CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang plans to 'break open the barrier' facing gene editing after raising $193 million for his secretive new startup
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Feng Zhang, Aera's founder and a CRISPR pioneer, spoke with Insider about his vision for the firm. Aera wants to "break open the barrier" of tech through methods like gene editing, Zhang said. The CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang spoke with Insider about Aera Therapeutics, his Boston-based biotech. "The goal is to break open the barrier that's facing genetic medicine," Zhang told Insider in his first interview about the company. In starting another company, Zhang said he felt it was important to have a dedicated team focused on delivery.

☆ CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang's secretive gene-editing startup has hired ex-Alnylam leaders as CEO and chair
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The gene-editing startup Aera has hired biotech vets Akin Akinc as CEO and John Maraganore as chairman. CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang's newest gene-editing venture has attracted two longtime leaders of the biotech giant Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Insider has learned. Former Alnylam CEO John Maraganore is chairman of Aera. The SEND technology could allow gene-editing technology to treat more diseases. Based on Zhang's SEND research, Aera hopes to deliver gene-editing tools to more organs, ultimately expanding the number of diseases CRISPR can impact.

The country spent big on quarantine and testing facilities over the past three years rather than bolstering hospitals and clinics and training medical staff, these people said. "There is no transition time for the medical system to prepare for this," said Zuofeng Zhang, professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. The failure to boost vaccination rates among the vulnerable could imperil China's health system, more than a dozen experts said. The death of a 23-year-old medical student in Chengdu on Dec. 14 fueled public ire at the strain on China's health system. Chen Jiming, a researcher at China's Foshan University, said there was every chance that China's medical system could cope now that the country has ended quarantine for asymptomatic and mild cases.

☆ CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang is building a secretive new startup to solve gene-editing's biggest problem — getting into more parts of the body
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang is building a new gene-editing startup, Insider has learned. CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang is in the process of launching yet another ambitious gene-editing startup, backed by approximately $200 million from some of biotech's biggest investors, Insider has exclusively learned. Aera was incorporated in September 2021, shortly after Zhang's research was published in Science. Aera is at least the seventh startup Zhang has cofounded, joining a list that includes base-editing biotech Beam Therapeutics, CRISPR company Editas Medicine, and gene-editing startup Arbor Biotechnologies. While the ARC protein seems tailored for brain delivery, Zhang's suite of proteins could reach other organs, Shepherd said.

☆ Gene-editing companies are growing thanks to fast-paced science, even as biotech faces a downturn
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

CRISPR companies are faring better by producing faster and more dramatic clinical results. A layoff tracker from Fierce Biotech counts at least 90 drug companies that have laid off staff in 2022. Gene-editing biotechs have avoided the brunt of the downturn because of fast clinical successIntellia Therapeutics is developing CRISPR-based gene-editing medicines that could cure diseases. Just in the past month, CRISPR Therapeutics moved into a swanky new headquarters in Boston that can house up to 1,000 people. BeamTo be sure, 2022 hasn't been smooth sailing for the CRISPR companies.

BEIJING, Oct 7 (Reuters) - The mounting economic toll of China's zero-COVID policy is raising investor hopes that Beijing may finally begin laying the groundwork for the tricky epidemiological and political task of shifting course following this month's Communist Party congress. Goldman Sachs analysts predict China will start relaxing the policy in the April-June quarter. China boasts nine domestically developed COVID vaccines approved for use, more than any other country. REUTERS/Aly SongThe authorities have not approved any foreign-made COVID shots. Many countries offer second booster shots.

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