Risks Related to Competition
We face significant competition in an environment of rapid technological change. The possibility that our competitors may achieve regulatory approval before we do or develop therapies that are more advanced or effective than ours may harm our business and financial condition or our ability to successfully market or commercialize our product candidates.
The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are extremely competitive in the race to develop new products. While we believe we have significant competitive advantages with our industry-leading expertise in genome editing, clinical development expertise and dominant IP position, we currently face and will continue to face competition for our development programs from companies that use genome editing or gene therapy development platforms and from companies focused on more traditional therapeutic modalities such as small molecules and antibodies. The competition is likely to come from multiple sources, including large and specialty pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic research institutions, government agencies and public and private research institutions. Many of these competitors may have access to greater capital and resources than us. For any products that we may ultimately commercialize, not only will we compete with any existing therapies and those therapies currently in development, but we will also have to compete with new therapies that may become available in the future.
Specific to our nex-z program, we are aware of other companies that are currently commercializing or developing products and therapies used to treat ATTR amyloidosis, including Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, BridgeBio Pharma Inc., Bayer AG, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Metagenomi, Inc., Novo Nordisk A/S, Pfizer, Inc. and YolTech Therapeutics.
Specific to our lonvo-z program, we are aware of other companies that are currently commercializing or developing products used to treat HAE, including ADARx Therapeutics, Inc., Astria Therapeutics Inc., BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc., CSL Limited, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., KalVista Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Pharming Group N.V., Pharvaris N.V. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited.
Our platform and product foci are on the development of therapies using CRISPR-based technologies. Genome editing companies focused on CRISPR-based technologies include: Arbor Biotechnologies, Inc., Beam Therapeutics Inc., Caribou Biosciences, Inc., CRISPR Therapeutics AG, EdiGene, Inc., Editas Medicine, Inc., Emendo Biotherapeutics, Inc., Ensoma, Inc., Excision Biotherapeutics, Inc., Integra Therapeutics, S.L., Mammoth Biosciences, Inc., Metagenomi, Inc., Modalis Therapeutics Inc., nChroma Bio (formerly Chroma Medicine, Inc.), Prime Medicine, Inc., Scribe Therapeutics, Inc., Tessera Therapeutics, Inc., ToolGen, Inc., Tune Therapeutics, Inc., Verve Therapeutics, Inc. (acquired by Eli Lilly and Company) and YolTech Therapeutics.
There are also companies developing therapies using additional genome editing technologies, which include Allogene Therapeutics, Inc., Genetix Biotherapeutics, Inc., Cellectis S.A., Editas Medicine, Inc., Life Edit Therapeutics (an ElevateBio Company), Myeloid Therapeutics, Inc., Poseida Therapeutics, Inc. (acquired by Roche Holdings, Inc.), Precision Biosciences, Inc., Prime Medicine, Inc., Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc., Seamless Therapeutics, Inc., Stylus Medicine, Inc. and Tessera Therapeutics, Inc.
We are also aware of companies developing therapies in various areas related to our specific research and development programs. For ex vivo, these companies include Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc., Allogene Therapeutics, Inc., BRL Medicine, Inc., Caribou Biosciences, Inc., CARSgen Therapeutics Corporation, Cellectis S.A., CRISPR Therapeutics AG, Legend Biotech USA, Inc., Poseida Therapeutics, Inc. (acquired by Roche Holdings, Inc.), Precision BioSciences, Inc., and Sana Biotechnology, Inc. For in vivo, these companies include Beam Therapeutics Inc., CRISPR Therapeutics AG, Editas Medicine, Inc., Ensoma, Inc., Metagenomi, Inc., Orna Therapeutics, Inc., Precision Biosciences, Inc., Prime Medicine, Inc., Tessera Therapeutics, Inc., Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Verve Therapeutics, Inc.
Our competitors will also include companies that are or will be developing other genome editing methods as well as small molecules, biologics, in vivo gene therapies, engineered cell therapies and nucleic acid-based therapies for the same indications that we are targeting with our CRISPR-based therapeutics.
Any advances in gene therapy, engineered cell therapies or genome editing technology made by a competitor may be used to develop therapies that could compete against any of our product candidates.