NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing firm Editas has filed a preliminary prospectus with US regulators for an initial public offering.
In its Form S-1, filed Monday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company said that it plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Market under ticker symbol "EDIT."
The firm has not yet priced its shares or said how many shares it plans to offer. The IPO will be underwritten by Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Cowen and Company, and JMP Securities.
Editas said it intends to use the proceeds to fund preclinical studies and clinical trials, continued expansion of its technology, and for working capital and other general corporate purposes. Preclinical and clinical trials could be related to its program to develop a therapy for the retinal disease Leber’s congenital amaurosis, the firm’s collaboration with Juno Therapeutics on T cell editing, or other research programs.
The firm was founded in 2013 as Gengine, by leading CRISPR scientists including Harvard professor George Church; Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Feng Zhang; University of California at Berkeley professor Jennifer Doudna; Harvard associate professor Keith Joung; and Harvard professor David Liu.
Doudna is no longer involved with the firm’s operations and has co-founded competing CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing firms Caribou Biosciences and Intellia Therapeutics.
In August, the firm raised $120 million, and in 2013 it raised $43 million in Series A financing.
As of September 30, 2015, Editas had cash and cash equivalents of $155.3 million, according to the SEC filing.
Katrine Bosley is CEO of the firm.