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Beam sues rival startup, claims former scientist stole secrets
Fierce Biotech • • business
Key Points:
- Beam Therapeutics has filed a lawsuit against YolTech Therapeutics and Serapha Bio, alleging theft of trade secrets related to its base editing therapy for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD).
- The suit centers on former Beam scientist Zi Jun (Emma) Wang, who allegedly founded YolTech while still employed at Beam and accessed confidential company files beyond her scope.
- Beam claims YolTech’s base editing candidate YOLT-202 and Serapha’s SERP-01 are strikingly similar to Beam’s BEAM-302, targeting the same mutation in the SERPINA1 gene using proprietary delivery system designs.
- Serapha Bio, which licensed YolTech’s technology for development outside China and is merging with Boundless Bio, denies the allegations and plans to vigorously defend itself.
- Wang has been removed from the leadership listings of both YolTech and Serapha, despite her roles as interim CTO of Serapha and co-founder of YolTech, according to Beam’s lawsuit.
