Patient death post BEAM-101 doesn’t seem related to Beam drug, says BMO

BMO Capital says the first-ever clinical data from Beam Therapeutics (BEAM)’ base editing platform in sickle cell disease, or SCD, demonstrate a “robust” efficacy and safety profile for BEAM-101 with differentiating characteristics compared with other gene editing approaches. Though the patient death post BEAM-101 treatment may trigger investor questions, the firm doesn’t think it is drug-related or has a readthrough to base editing, the analyst tells investors. The firm, which sees BEAM-101 clinical data as “positive” and “further derisking base editing,” has an Outperform rating and $57 price target on Beam shares, which are down $2.85, or 12%, to $21.51 in pre-market trading.