Aurora Therapeutics Scraps Lead CRISPR Program, Cuts Staff
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- Aurora Therapeutics scrapped its lead personalized gene-editing program and laid off an unspecified number of staff, just seven months after the startup launched
- A company spokesperson declined to disclose how many employees were laid off or whether any of the startup's three-person leadership team would stay on
- Aurora's chief scientific officer departed the company earlier this year
- Beam Therapeutics, a larger and more established competitor, announced its own set of custom gene editors for the same disease just one month after Aurora launched — a move the source says appears to have undercut the startup
Why it matters: Aurora's collapse shows how quickly a personalized CRISPR startup can be undercut when a larger rival beats it to the same target — Beam Therapeutics announced competing custom gene editors just one month after Aurora launched, and Aurora's lead program is now scrapped with its CSO already gone. The episode lays bare how thin the runway is for small gene-editing entrants racing better-capitalized incumbents.
