10 Most Interesting Companies In The World

#7 Editas Medicine Inc (NASDAQ:EDIT)

While they may not be as sexy as some of the other names on this list, Editas Medicine is a company that should be on a lot of radars, as they’re working on a revolutionary method of genome editing which could conceivably provide cures for the approximately 6,000 diseases which are caused by genetic mutations in our DNA. Of those, only about 5% currently have approved therapeutic treatments (and those don’t address the root cause, but seek to combat the symptoms).

Editas’ genome editing platform CRISPR could instead be used to correct the genetic problem at its source: right in our DNA. A protein-RNA complex can be tailored to either repair or replace damaged genetic sequences, and is then guided to the target spot in the genetic link by a guide RNA. The result is a corrected sequence that could completely cure the issues that were being caused by the defect.

There are a couple issues surrounding the company however. Firstly, it could be years before any human trials of the platform are launched. Secondly, Editas Medicine is currently caught in the middle of a heated patent dispute over the CRISPR platform itself, which teams of scientists from Berkeley and the Broad Institute each claim to have the patent rights to. Interestingly, members of both of those teams helped found Editas and still serve as founding scientific advisors for the company.

Setting aside the patent dispute, there’s some exciting work being done at Editas that could revolutionize medicine, making this one of the most interesting companies in the world.

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