FYI - For Your Innovation

FYI - For Your Innovation


Base Editing with Beam Therapeutics CEO John Evans

March 13, 2022

Please note: as of 12/31/21, ARK’s clients own greater than 1% of the shares outstanding of Beam Therapeutics.


Base editing, and gene editing as a broader industry, are a major focus of our research at ARK, and a major piece of DNA Sequencing, one of our 5 technology platforms. To dive deeper into the world of base editing, Analyst Ali Urman sits down with industry expert, Beam Therapeutics CEO John Evans. Evans was previously a Venture Partner with ARCH Venture Partners and an early employee and member of the leadership team at Agios Pharmaceuticals. At Agios, he helped develop IDHIFA and TIBSOVO, two IDH inhibitors for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), helped initiate and lead Agios’ landmark alliance with Celgene, and co-led Agios’s expansion into rare genetic diseases. On this episode, Ali and John discuss the falling costs of medicine, the convergence of 3D Printing and Base Editing, Base Editing’s applications for chronic illness, the total opportunity of the gene editing space and much more!





Key Points From This Episode:
  • John’s favorite poet, Wallace Stevens
  • Medicine’s cost declines and what that means for patients
  • The efficiency of of Multiplex Gene Editing (MGE)
  • The convergence between and potential of 3D Printing and Gene Editing
  • The many colors of CRISPR Gene Editing
  • Base editing applications for chronic illnesses
  • The intersection between Base Editing and Prime Editing
  • Beam Therapeutic’s partnerships with Pfizer and Verve
  • Measuring the opportunity in the Base Editing space
  • The potential total market opportunity in the gene editing space
  • The CRISPR patent ruling and its impact on the genomics field
  • What John finds interesting about Twitter and why he is so active on the platform