Beam Therapeutics vs Meta

About

Beam Therapeutics is a genetic medicines company founded in 2017 by base editing pioneers David Liu, J. Keith Joung, and Feng Zhang, having raised over $600M and gone public on Nasdaq. The company is built around base editing, a technology that makes precise single nucleotide changes in DNA without creating double-strand breaks, reducing the risk of unintended insertions or deletions compared to traditional CRISPR. Beam is developing a portfolio of base editing medicines targeting blood disorders, liver diseases, and immuno-oncology, including sickle cell disease, beta-thalassemia, and various cancers. The company also employs prime editing, a newer and even more precise gene editing modality for more complex genetic changes. Beam's pipeline includes both in vivo therapies delivered directly into the body and ex vivo cell therapy approaches where patient cells are edited outside the body and reinfused. As a clinical-stage company, Beam has programs in IND-enabling and Phase 1 trials and represents one of the most advanced next-generation gene editing platforms in development.