Scribe Therapeutics Files for Nasdaq IPO, Testing Investor Appetite for Early-Stage CRISPR Gene-Editing Biotechs
The Jennifer Doudna-founded CRISPR biotech filed to go public under ticker SCTX as its lead cholesterol therapy remains early in human testing.
Overview
Scribe Therapeutics, the CRISPR gene-editing biotechnology company co-founded by Nobel Prize laureate Jennifer Doudna, filed a prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on July 2 to pursue an initial public offering, according to BioSpace. The California-based company intends to list on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol “SCTX,” according to BioPharma Dive. The filing arrives as Scribe’s lead drug candidate, an experimental single-dose cholesterol therapy called STX-1150, is still early in human testing, with trial data not expected until the first half of 2027.
What We Know
The company and the filing
Scribe launched in 2020, according to BioPharma Dive, which also reported that chief executive Benjamin Oakes previously worked as a researcher under Doudna, who co-founded the company and shared a Nobel Prize for her CRISPR research. BioSpace referred to Scribe as “the Jennifer Doudna-founded biotech.”
To date, Scribe has raised $120 million from venture investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Avoro Ventures and OrbiMed, and has received more than $25 million in grant funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, according to BioPharma Dive. The company has also drawn pharmaceutical partners: Sanofi paid $25 million upfront for access to Scribe’s platform and added another $40 million when it expanded the partnership in 2023, while a collaboration with Eli Lilly’s Prevail Medicines unit is worth up to $1.5 billion and has already generated two milestone payments, per BioPharma Dive. Scribe also has an earlier-stage collaboration with Biogen targeting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, announced not long after the company launched.
The lead drug candidate
STX-1150 targets PCSK9, a protein that regulates levels of LDL cholesterol, and is designed to be administered as a single dose rather than as daily pills or the quarterly injections required by existing therapies such as Repatha and Praluent, according to BioPharma Dive. The candidate entered the clinic in June, and BioSpace reported it has “recently entered a first-in-human study in Australia,” with data expected in the first half of 2027 “according to the biotech’s prospectus.” Scribe received clearance from Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration in May to begin that trial, as previously reported.
Behind STX-1150, Scribe has two preclinical programs: STX-1200, aimed at reducing elevated lipoprotein(a) levels, and STX-1400, aimed at severely high triglycerides, according to BioSpace.
The IPO market backdrop
If completed, the offering would make Scribe the 14th venture-backed biotech to price an IPO in 2026, according to BioPharma Dive, which noted that fellow cardiometabolic drugmaker Kardigan raised $400 million in June and that Metagenomi’s nearly $94 million offering in 2024 was the last time a gene-editing company priced an IPO. BioSpace placed Scribe’s filing alongside a 2026 cohort that includes Parabilis Medicines, which raised $670 million in June, and Kailera Therapeutics, which raised $625 million in April — both companies with more clinically advanced pipelines than Scribe’s.
Ben Zercher, a senior analyst at PitchBook, described the shift in investor preference driving that 2026 cohort in remarks to BioSpace: “Where the pandemic-era class sold preclinical optionality, Parabilis and the 2026 cohort are being priced on de-risked clinical programs with clear regulatory paths,” BioSpace reported.
What We Don’t Know
Neither BioPharma Dive nor BioSpace reported how much money Scribe hopes to raise in the offering, and the company’s proposed share price range and underwriters had not been disclosed in the coverage reviewed. It also remains unclear whether Scribe will complete the IPO on the terms it has filed for, or adjust the offering as it proceeds through SEC review — a process that can result in a company revising or withdrawing its plans before pricing. With STX-1150 data not expected until the first half of 2027, investors weighing the offering will have to do so without human efficacy results in hand.
Analysis
Scribe’s filing tests whether public markets remain open to biotechs whose lead program is still in early human testing. The 2026 IPO cohort that BioSpace and BioPharma Dive describe — Kardigan, Parabilis, Kailera — has so far leaned toward companies with more clinically de-risked pipelines, and Zercher’s comment suggests analysts are drawing an explicit contrast with the “preclinical optionality” that characterized biotech listings during the pandemic-era boom. Scribe’s position is a partial match to that pattern: STX-1150 has cleared into a first-in-human trial, but with efficacy data more than a year away, the company is asking investors to price a story built substantially on its earlier CRISPR platform work, its pharma partnerships with Sanofi and Eli Lilly, and Doudna’s scientific pedigree rather than on clinical results.