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| Katrine Bosley |
Well-known biotech entrepreneur Katrine Bosley--noted for orchestrating the $925 million deal to sell Avila Therapeutics to Celgene ($CELG)--is taking the helm at one of the hottest new biotechs in the biz. Cambridge, MA-based Editas Medicine, a biotech which launched last fall to blaze a path in the gene editing field, named Bosley CEO today. Their work centers on the CRISPR/Cas system, centering on a process in which a host bacterial cell incorporates short bursts of DNA sequences from invaders that can trigger disease. It's been described as an adaptive immune system and investigators have been fascinated by the therapeutic potential of splicing DNA with their own custom-designed sequences to correct a gene, essentially rewriting genetic coding in the body in order to fix what ails it. Editas brings together some of the field's top scientists, including George Church, David Liu and Keith Joung from Harvard, MIT's Feng Zhang, Jennifer Doudna from UC Berkeley. And it also brought together three venture groups--Polaris, Third Rock and Flagship--which put up $43 million in an A round. "There are rare instances when groundbreaking science comes together with a unique team, as it has at Editas, with multiple world-class institutions working in partnership to create an organization able to translate that science into groundbreaking medicines," said Bosley in a statement. "Genome editing holds the potential to impact diseases that have been untreatable, but it will also demand innovative approaches in every aspect of research, development and eventually, commercialization. It will be an incredible journey to realize that potential." Release