Citi sees limited readthrough for Beam Therapeutics from VERVE-101 trial pause

Citi analyst Samantha Semenkow keeps a Buy rating and $56 price target on Beam Therapeutics (BEAM), noting that while the stock has fallen 6.5% today following news that Verve Therapeutics (VERV) has paused enrollment in the Heart-1 study of VERVE-101, the firm sees “limmited readthrough” from the development. While Beam and Verve both in-licensed a lipid from Acuitas, they are importantly different lipids – specifically, Beam uses a cationic lipid for their LNP construct in BEAM-302 and BEAM-301, rather than the ionizable lipid used in VERVE-101, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Citi adds that the doses for BEAM-302’s Phase 1 have not been disclosed, and the firm sees potential for clinical benefit to be achieved at lower doses in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, or AATD, than in heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, or HeFH.