#103 - Base edits, Beeline's billions & a global biotech kickoff
The coffee break biotech roundup, by SomX.
Welcome to the knockout rounds,
This week, it’s all kicking off: Cambridge scientists have base-edited a master regulator out of team of human embryos, Salk Institute researchers found that iron plays a long game before neurons finally give in, Beeline added $126M to its immunology war chest, Ipsen paid up to $1.7B to sign Kartos’s myelofibrosis therapy, and Saudi Arabia is warming up for the the 2034 World Cup, instigating a biotech line-up for September’s Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit.
Catch you at half-time,
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🥇 World-first gene editing application unveils master regulator of human embryo development (BioTechniques): Cambridge researchers, led by Kathy Niakan, have used adenine base editing to disable a crucial DNA-binding transcription factor in human embryos. It’s the first time the technique has been let loose on a developmental regulator in humans. Losing the pluripotency gene wrecked epiblast specification and sent cells hurtling toward primitive endoderm or trophectoderm instead. The approach caused no genotoxicity and showed rather limited off-target editing.
Our take: Niakan’s 2017 paper documented that CRISPR in human embryos reliably caused chromosome loss, precisely why embryo genome editing has spent years in the naughty corner. Base editing swaps one nucleotide for another without going near a double-strand cut, sidestepping it all. It is the first time base editing has probed gene function in human embryos, and rewriting is what’s possible faster than regulators can catch up.
🧠 Iron accumulation drives neurodegeneration via chronic stress pathway (GEN): Salk Institute researchers have identified chronoferroptosis, a persistent ferroptotic adaptation in neuronal cells, caused by sustained iron dysregulation. They found that the duration of iron stress, rather than the amount, seals a cell’s fate. Cells only lose resilience after prolonged exposure, priming for age-related failure. The lab has already cooked up compounds to inhibit the pathway.
Our take: Iron chelation has spent years bouncing between promise and disappointment. Deferiprone showed neuroprotective benefit in early Parkinson’s trials, then rather awkwardly worsened motor symptoms in later ones, leaving the field bewildered about when to intervene. Chronoferroptosis offers a neater explanation for that inconsistency. Chelating iron in patients who have already spent decades accumulating it may be arriving at the party a little too late.
🐝 Beeline adds $126M to Bain-backed immunology pipeline from Bristol Myers (Endpoints): The Series A extension brings total funding to $426M, the third-largest life sciences round this year behind only Isomorphic Labs and NewLimit. The Bain Capital-backed spinout is developing five immunology assets in-licensed from Bristol Myers Squibb last July, with BMS retaining a 20% stake. Lead asset afimetoran, a once-daily oral TLR7/8 inhibitor for lupus, expects Phase 2 data later this summer.
Our take: Bain Capital has run this precise playbook three times before, spinning SpringWorks out of Pfizer for a $3.9B exit, Cerevel out of Pfizer for $8.7B, and Chinese biotech assets into Aiolos and Timberlyne. And guess what? The same CEO from SpringWorks is now piloting Beeline! This is private equity platform-building dressed in a lab coat, and the returns have been outrageously good.
🖋️ Ipsen pens $1.7B deal to acquire Kartos for potential Jakafi add-on therapy for myelofibrosis (FiercePharma): The French pharma is stumping up $450M upfront, potentially climbing to $1.7B, for Kartos and its Phase 3 asset navtemadlin, an oral MDM2 inhibitor being tested as a Jakafi add-on for myelofibrosis patients who respond poorly to the standard drug. Rezatapopt, PMV Pharmaceuticals’ p53 reactivator, is thrown in for good measure after a jolly promising 43% response rate in mid-phase ovarian cancer trials.
Our take: Ipsen has been busily patching up its oncology bench after the withdrawal of Tazverik, its EZH2 inhibitor, on rather awkward safety grounds. They have since been hoovering up assets like there’s no tomorrow, striking ADC deals with Foreseen Biotech and Simcere Zaiming, and picking up ImCheck Therapeutics for its immuno-oncology work. Kartos is the latest, and shows how a single ugly withdrawal drives years of dealmaking.
And finally…
🇸🇦 Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit announces scientific program for 2026 edition (BioSpace): The fourth edition of RGMBS, running 14-16 September in Riyadh, will span AI in biotech, multi-omics, biotech investment, immunology, bioengineering, and workforce development. The summit lines up with Saudi Arabia’s National Biotechnology Strategy, which rather ambitiously targets a $34.6B contribution to non-oil GDP by 2040. Previous editions have produced 59 partnership agreements with the likes of Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Novo Nordisk.
Our take: Saudi Arabia is copying Singapore’s homework with more haste than the original, by building the first Middle Eastern jurisdiction where a global pharma company could plausibly develop, manufacture, register, and sell a drug end-to-end without leaving the country. Singapore spent 25 years assembling that stack from scratch, and Riyadh is trying to compress it into 15, without the workforce to draw on.
Tune in 🎧
🍅 Frankenfood | The Mistake Series: Malcolm dispatches Ben to investigate two pivotal errors in food technology – one from the 1990s GM tomato era, one still unfolding – and what they reveal about public trust in engineered food.
👶 The dawn of the designer baby: Jenny Kleeman investigates entrepreneur Cathy Tie’s controversial bid to commercialise embryo gene editing, and what it means for the future of human reproduction.
🌡️ Europe swelters in ‘heat dome’, and Martin Rees on aliens: The science behind Europe’s record-breaking June temperatures, declining HPV vaccine uptake, malaria’s 500,000-year grip on humanity, and Lord Martin Rees on the search for extraterrestrial life.
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👩🔬 08.07 | Women in Biotech - Canary Wharf | London, UK: Hosted by the BIA, this evening of panel discussion and networking gathers CFOs from across the biotech ecosystem to share candid perspectives on building investor relationships, raising capital and championing women in leadership. Open to all.
🥼09.07 | Disrupting Bio Innovation | Cambridge, UK: Explore the breakthrough technologies, policies, and business models reshaping drug discovery and development, with a focus on translating cutting-edge research into diagnostics and treatments.
🩸16.07 | MedTech Careers AHEAD 2026 Edition | London, UK: Are you looking to launch or grow your career in healthcare engineering and medical technology? Join us for an evening of networking.
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