Covid-19 vaccine makers Pfizer (PFE) has partnered with gene editing biotech firm Beam Therapeutics (BEAM) to develop technology for manipulating DNA. The two firms hope that the tie-up can see them develop drugs for rare genetic diseases by following the approach of base editing. Pfizer's stock price was given a booster shot in the arm with its shares rising 0.9% up to $56.24 once the news broke out.
The move comes as the pharma giant continues to do further work with mRNA vaccines. Beam’s strength lies within its based editing tech that is designed to cut just a single strand of DNA rather than two, which is achieved with the more ‘traditional’ CRISPR- gene editing.
Why it matters
Covid-19 came out of nowhere and pulled a TKO on the world — and now, the world needs to tool up. Basically, scientists are claiming that endemic and pandemic-style diseases may become more common; and so, the super-smart people at Pfizer and Beam are hoping that single shot cures for genetic diseases and others become a bit more commonplace.
