DM1 deal grows Vertex’s rare muscular toolbox, extends Entrada’s runway

A deal with Vertex for its DM1 therapy doubles Entrada’s cash while giving the larger biotech another asset in its growing toolkit for rare muscular diseases.

ENTR-701 from Entrada Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:TRDA) gives Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTX) a preclinical asset for myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), a disease it began working on in 2019, when it acquired privately held Exonics Therapeutics Inc. for $245 million up front and expanded its existing deal with CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP). Those gene editing deals marked Vertex’s expansion into neuromuscular disease.  ...