CRISPR company Arbor Biotechnologies gets cash infusion

Three years ago, Arbor Biotechnologies CEO Devyn Smith appeared at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference and laid out a grand vision: With $215 million in new capital, the biotech would push forward CRISPR-based drugs for a series of liver and brain diseases, beginning by filing for a first trial in under two years. 

It was, suffice to say, bold. Arbor had yet to even conduct a mouse experiment. 

“I mean, we set very aggressive targets,” Smith said in a recent interview. “You don’t set aggressive targets, you don’t get aggressive wins.”