Vertex and CRISPR can now get access to the advantages afforded by the European Medicines Agency’s priority medicines scheme for both of the indications they are targeting with their investigational gene therapy, CTX001.

The proposed $39bn acquisition of Alexion by AstraZeneca has a particular interest for its chief financial officer Marc Dunoyer who recently spoke to Scrip about his extensive experience in the rare disease space.

Public Company Edition: Merging with a special purpose acquisition corporation may be an attractive alternative to an initial public offering, but February’s vigorous IPO pace includes seven recent offerings that raised $480.8m in the US. Also, Cassava raised $200m and KalVista brought in $222.5m.

The company will likely have its answer in a matter of weeks, but a link to the vector would be a “worst-case scenario.”