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Morning! Today, more beef in the gene editing space, with Prime Medicine’s CEO getting a little aggressive over patent disputes. Also, Novartis acquires a gene editing startup, and why patient advocates are migrating to Bluesky.
Prime Medicine plans to aggressively prosecute patent infringement
From STAT’s Jason Mast: Prime Medicine CEO Keith Gottesdiener told investors last week that he would prosecute Prime’s gene editing patents “very” aggressively in the future.
The comments, given at the Guggenheim Securities Healthcare Innovation Conference and made available on AlphaSense, are among the starkest the CEO has made in an ongoing feud between Prime Medicine and several rivals, most notably Tessera Therapeutics, over rights to a new form of gene editing.
Prime spun out of David’s Liu’s lab at the Broad Institute in 2019 with a technology, called prime editing, for making virtually any small change to DNA. Since then, Tessera, a biotech backed by Flagship, and other gene editing startups like Arbor and Intellia have shown or purchased technology that looks quite similar to prime editing. Tessera claims to have independently invented its technology.
Gottesdiener noted any lawsuits would only come after a company gets an approved drug on the market. That won’t be for years. But Prime, Gottesdiener said, will be ready.
“We are totally convinced we own prime editing. We are absolutely convinced that there are people out there who almost certainly are doing prime editing and that is prevented or falls under the scope of our patent,” he said. “I personally intend to cash an awful lot of royalty checks sometime in the future.”
Novartis acquires gene editing player Kate Therapeutics for $1.1 billion
Novartis just acquired gene therapy startup Kate Therapeutics for $1.1 billion, marking a rare buyout in a gene therapy space that has been quiet. Kate has preclinical programs for genetic neuromuscular diseases, and an advanced virus technology that can deliver genes efficiently to muscle and cardiac tissues.
This also places Novartis in direct competition with Sarepta to develop better treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Novartis already markets Zolgensma, a high-grossing treatment for spinal muscular atrophy.
Pfizer’s new R&D head and a new FDA commissioner?
What’s in store for biotech VCs next year? Will Pfizer’s new R&D head do enough to appease investors? And should Adam get a position under the new Food and Drug Administration commissioner?
We discuss all this and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD.” Atlas Venture partner Bruce Booth joins us to discuss his annual year in review report, the influence of China, and what the new Trump administration might mean for innovation. Adam and Allison also recap the latest news in the life sciences, including a new science chief at Pfizer, a new job for Ned Sharpless, and the ongoing presidential appointments.
Why one advocate is moving from X to Bluesky
My colleague Katie Palmer wrote earlier this week about why “MedTwitter” was decamping from the social platform X to Bluesky. In a new First Opinion essay, cancer research advocate Janet Freeman-Daily writes why patient advocates in particular are shifting to other spaces like private Facebook groups and Bluesky. Twitter used to be a bastion for patient advocacy, she writes, but as X, under Elon Musk, it’s a shadow of what it was, thanks to policy changes, reduced moderation, and increased disinformation.
“It’s sad to see the era of Twitter cancer communities end,” she writes. “Twitter was the once place where all stakeholders — patients, caregivers, advocates, clinicians, academic cancer centers, researchers, government agencies, industry, and the general public — could meet and exchange ideas on something that had life-and-death implications for so many.”
Freeman-Daily, a patient and avid advocate of lung cancer research, is now on Bluesky — and hopes that it, or another platform, attracts enough players “to once again enable discussions across siloes.”
More reads
- Medical supply firm Medline aims to raise over $5 billion in 2025 IPO, Reuters
- Flagship-backed Sonata says sayonara to CEO, trims crew by 20 staffers, FierceBiotech
- FDA adcomm raises risk questions on AstraZeneca’s Andexxa, Endpoints