The World in a Grain of Sand: Verve Therapeutics
KdT Ventures presents The World in a Grain of Sand, where we break down an S1 from a recent biotech IPO and share insights on the science, business models, and financials. In this episode, Ketan Yerneni and Mack Healy discuss Verve Therapeutics, a gene editing biotech tackling one of the most common chronic diseases: cardiovascular disease. We dive into: Base editing, and its advantages over traditional (potentially error-prone) CRISPR. Verve’s pipeline, including their strategy of starting with genetically well-defined diseases like familial hypercholesterolemia and then expanding to the general population of patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Verve’s approach for predicting off-target gene editing, a key challenge for the gene editing field. Verve’s unique licensing strategy with Beam, Acuitas, and the Broad to secure several foundational technologies. The competitive landscape and target product profile tradeoffs for one-and-done gene editing approaches vs other therapeutic modalities. and more. For updates from KdT, subscribe to our Substack.