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☆ Palm oil is in almost everything, and it's devastating rainforests. This Bill Gates-backed company used microbes to create an alternative
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Palm oil grows best in the regions right around the equator, so palm oil producers chop down rainforest and clear that felled vegetation by burning it, making it a prime target of conservation organizations like the Rainforest Rescue and the World Wildlife Fund. Palm oil trees grow at the Cikasungka palm oil plantation, operated by PT Perkebunan Nusantara VIII, in Bogor Regency in West Java, Indonesia, on Monday, June 20, 2022. To make its palm oil alternative, C16 Biosciences uses a wild yeast microbe that makes a functional equivalent to palm oil with a kind of fermentation process. Photo courtesy: Cat Clifford, CNBCChemically, the palm oil that C16 Biosciences makes is not identical to the palm oil that is grown in industrial agriculture farms. However, "it contains the same fatty acids, which are the molecular fingerprints of fats and oils, that palm oil does," Heller told CNBC.

☆ These companies are cheap, have strong balance sheets, and analysts love them
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The S & P 500 is down about 19% in 2022, while the Nasdaq has dropped about 29% in that time. Advanced Micro Devices has a price-to-book value of 1.7, with a total debt as a percentage of equity of 5.8%, according to FactSet data. Salesforce has a price-to-book value of 2.7, with a total debt as a percentage of equity of just 23.8%. Knight-Swift Transportation has a price-to-book value of 1.2. It has a total debt as a percentage of equity of 25.8.

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☆ Prime Medicine dipped 10% in its public debut. We dug through the biotech's 283-page filing to find 5 key takeaways about the company's plan to commercialize gene editing.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The gene-editing biotech Prime Medicine went public on Thursday. From a key patent to an uncertain timeline, here are five takeaways from Prime's filing. Its goal is to advance prime editing, a twist on CRISPR gene editing that could allow for a wider range of edits to DNA. Prime editing, another version of next-generation gene editing, works like a word processor, "searching for the correct location and replacing or repairing a wide variety of target DNA," the filing said. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesDavid Liu, a Harvard gene-editing scientist who co-invented base editing and prime editing, is Prime's largest shareholder.

☆ 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.

☆ Prime Medicine is gearing up for a $200 million IPO. We dug through the biotech's 282-page filing to find 5 key takeaways about the company's plan to commercialize gene editing.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

From an uncertain timeline to the clinic to a key patent, here are 5 takeaways from Prime's filing. The company's goal is to advance prime editing, a twist on CRISPR gene editing that could allow for a wider range of edits to DNA. Prime editing is another version of next-generation gene editing. Prime's filing comes in a difficult market for biotechs, but particularly for companies that have yet to start human testing. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesDavid Liu, a Harvard gene-editing scientist who co-invented base editing and prime editing, is currently Prime's largest shareholder.

☆ We went inside the lab at Vertex, a company that dodged the market downturn to become one of the best-performing biotechs of 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

A mosaic of human cells inside Vertex Pharmaceuticals' cell and gene-therapy laboratory. The four-story, 267,000-square-foot space is home to Vertex's cell and gene-therapy unit, with about 375 people now residing in the modern-industrial building. That has led to going after unrelated diseases like sickle cell, diabetes, muscular dystrophy, kidney disease, and pain. For instance, Vertex's approach to sickle cell is led by its CRISPR gene-editing program. Vertex PharmaceuticalsThe next test of Vertex's strategy will be an experimental treatment called exa-cel, its CRISPR gene-editing program for sickle cell.

☆ UK dock worker strikes to hit supply chains for companies including Ford
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A striking dockworker on a picket line outside the Port of Liverpool during a strike in Liverpool, UK, on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. This eight-day strike overlaps with a second strike at the UK's largest container port, the Port of Felixstowe, set to begin on Sunday. With multinational companies including Ford — which on Monday warned of a significant cost increase from supply chain pressures — exporting from the UK, the continuing labor strife will stress an already congested European port network. Ford is one of thousands of companies that use both the UK ports and the ports in Germany, Belgium, and Netherlands to export auto parts. According to FreightWaves SONAR data, the Port of New York and New Jersey receives 30 percent of all UK exports.

☆ Walmart's secretive fintech ONE is the new disruptor in consumer banking, and the retailer has nabbed talent from Wall Street mainstays like Goldman Sachs.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Aaron Weinman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In January last year, the retailer said it was pursuing a partnership with venture-capital firm Ribbit Capital, which backed Robinhood. The next month, Walmart lured Omer Ismail and David Stark, two executives from Goldman Sachs' Marcus, over to work on a fintech initiative. Insider's Ann Gehan, Carter Johnson, and Ben Tobin have identified the key people shaping this effort at its fintech called ONE. Done deals :Acrisure, a fintech company that operates an insurance broker and real-estate services company, has acquired B2Z Insurance. Aditxt, a biotech company developing tech around monitoring the immune system, raised $20 million after selling 3.33 million shares on Nasdaq.

☆ How a 34-year-old investor moved from Wall Street to psychedelics and raised $10.5 million for a new depression treatment
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Freedom Biosciences is a new startup focused on a ketamine treatment for depression. In 2021, Burkitbayeva founded a psychedelics company, Freedom Biosciences, with Dr. John Krystal, the chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University. Freedom Biosciences, which focuses on ketamine and psychedelics as treatments for depression and other mental illnesses, announced on Tuesday that it had raised a $10.5 million seed round from investors. Burkitbayeva spoke with Insider about how she moved from Wall Street to psychedelics and went from angel investor to company CEO. Burkitbayeva used her background as an investor to help Freedom Biosciences raise its seed roundWith her background as both an investor and a founder, Burkitbayeva spearheaded the fundraising efforts for Freedom Biosciences.

☆ Has the Phoenix Valley real estate market hit its pandemic ceiling? 7 industry experts debate if Phoenix's lofty home valuations are justified — or if there's a housing correction on the horizon for t
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-07 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Besides an overwhelming investor appetite, the surge in the Sunbelt's real estate prices can also be attributed to an influx of enthusiastic remote workers with deep pockets. "The Phoenix market was largely a COVID-19 pandemic market until about last summer," independent real estate market analyst John Wake told Insider, explaining that it was mainly owner-occupants driving the market. "In 2007, before the great recession, over 50% of our workforce was in real estate, construction, retail, and hospitality. Besides its investments into the biosciences and healthcare industry, Phoenix also has a stake in another global sector — semiconductor chip manufacturing. Eventually, Rounds forecasts a price correction of at least 25% for the Phoenix housing market.

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