Prime Medicine narrows targets, gets cash influx

The high-profile CRISPR editing company Prime Medicine is in a financial crunch, and is scaling back on once-ambitious plans. The company originally targeted 18 diseases, but now will focus on just three: chronic granulomatous disease, Wilson's disease, and cystic fibrosis.

The company also announced a partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb that proffered $110 million upfront and could include up to $2.1 billion in potential milestone payments. That said, the company said it wants to circle back to its axed projects eventually.

"Many of the areas… we're deprioritizing with this approach have very impressive data and may be partnered or areas we plan on invest in the future," CEO Keith Gottesdiener told STAT. "But at this particular point, we wanted to focus resources on places where putting those resources, people and dollars would move programs much more quickly to the clinic, instead of spreading them out more reliably."

executive compensation

Health care CEOs still make a ton of money

Last year wasn't a great one for the health care industry, economically speaking. But the CEOs of companies in the industry, including biotech companies, generally didn't feel the pinch: Their compensation remained substantial, with top executives collectively earning more than $3.4 billion, according to a a new STAT analysis.

The average CEO compensation was $11 million, with the median at $4.1 million. Stock represented 76% of total CEO pay, which reflected the fluctuations in the market — and fewer CEOs received eight figures than previously. Stéphane Bancel of Moderna topped the list with an eye-popping $305 million, driven by stock awards.

"We have more of the corporatization of health care, and I do think that sort of clashes with people's intuition about health care," one bioethicist told STAT. "Health care is about caring for people.… Someone making millions of dollars off of people's ill health feels like it's a moral disconnect."

VENTURE CAPITAL

DCVC Bio raises $400 million for new venture fund

The venture firm DCVC Bio has raised a new $400 million fund, exceeding its initial goal of $350 million, STAT's Allison DeAngelis reports exclusively this morning. It's an impressive haul, given the challenges of the current capital market.

Though it invests in artificial intelligence, DCVC says it remains critical of superficial AI applications in biotech, and prioritizes quick returns and financial discipline. The new fund will focus on areas like pain, cardiometabolic, immune, and inflammatory conditions.

BIOTECH

A radiopharmaceuticals startup raises $175 million

From STAT's Allison DeAngelis: The investment fervor over the emerging field of radiopharmaceuticals is continuing, with RA Capital, RTW Investments, Janus Henderson Investors pouring another $175 million into a startup.

That money went to Boston biotech Aktis Oncology, which is developing cancer treatments that deliver targeted doses of radiation to specific tissues. Aktis is focused on breast, lung, colorectal, bladder, and liver cancers.

This field of cancer therapies has grabbed investors attention ever since Novartis launched the prostate cancer treatment Pluvicto in 2022. Other pharmaceutical companies have vied to build their own radiopharmaceutical pipelines, leading to several acquisitions over the last year. Now, the focus is on extending the approach's applicability into other cancers, and exploring new tools and targets that could better the therapeutic benefit.

layoffs

CEO discusses layoffs at Arbor Biotechnologies

CRISPR player Arbor Biotechnologies recently downsized, and cofounder Winston Yan wrote in a LinkedIn post that he's looking to help his employees find new roles. The news comes as the biotech industry experiences a wave of layoffs.

Just last week week, Bluebird Bio cut 25% of its staff and Atria Pharmaceuticals laid off 70% of its workforce.

"No one signs up to build a company deliberately and diligently, only to shrink the team you've carefully brought together," Yan writes.

More around STAT