1. Nature of business

 

Editas Medicine, Inc. (the “Company”) is a research stage company dedicated to treating patients with genetically defined diseases by correcting their disease‑causing genes. The Company was incorporated in the state of Delaware in September 2013. Its principal offices are in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

Since its inception, the Company has devoted substantially all of its efforts to business planning, research and development, recruiting management and technical staff, and raising capital, and has financed its operations through various equity and debt financings, including the initial public offering of its common stock (the “IPO”), private placements of preferred stock and an equipment loan, and from upfront, milestone and research and development fees paid under a research collaboration with Juno Therapeutics, Inc. (“Juno Therapeutics”).

 

The Company is subject to risks common to companies in the biotechnology industry, including but not limited to, risks of failure of preclinical studies and clinical trials, the need to obtain marketing approval for any drug product candidate that it may identify and develop, the need to successfully commercialize and gain market acceptance of its product candidates, dependence on key personnel, protection of proprietary technology, compliance with government regulations, development by competitors of technological innovations and ability to transition from pilot‑scale manufacturing to large‑scale production of products.

 

In February 2016, the Company completed its IPO whereby the Company sold 6,785,000 shares of its common stock, inclusive of 885,000 shares of common stock sold by the Company pursuant to the full exercise of an overallotment option granted to the underwriters in connection with the offering, at a price to the public of $16.00 per share. The shares began trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on February 3, 2016. The aggregate net proceeds received by the Company from the offering were $97.5 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses payable by the Company. In connection with the IPO, the board of directors and the stockholders of the Company approved a one-for-2.6 reverse stock split of the Company’s issued and outstanding common stock. The reverse stock split became effective on January 15, 2016. All share and per share amounts in the condensed consolidated financial statements have been retroactively adjusted for all periods presented to give effect to the reverse stock split, including reclassifying an amount equal to the reduction in par value to additional paid-in capital. Upon the closing of the IPO, all outstanding shares of convertible preferred stock converted into 24,929,709 shares of common stock. As of September 30, 2016, there were 35,608,637 shares of common stock outstanding. The significant increase in shares outstanding in the first quarter of 2016 is expected to impact the year-over-year comparability of the Company’s net loss per share calculations for the next six months.

 

The Company has incurred annual net operating losses in every year since its inception. The Company had an accumulated deficit of $146.2 million at September 30, 2016, and will require substantial additional capital to fund its operations. The Company has not generated any product revenues and has financed its operations primarily through a public offering, private placements of its equity securities, an equipment loan, and funding from its collaboration with Juno Therapeutics. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to obtain additional debt or equity financing or generate product revenue or revenues from collaborative partners, on terms acceptable to the Company, on a timely basis or at all. The failure of the Company to obtain sufficient funds on acceptable terms when needed could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations, and financial condition.