Aurora Therapeutics drops PKU program and trims staff

Aurora Therapeutics, a gene-editing startup founded by Jennifer Doudna, announced it is abandoning its lead phenylketonuria (PKU) program.

The decision follows growing competition in the PKU field, with companies such as Beam Therapeutics advancing their own gene-editing approaches.

Aurora also said several employees were let go as part of the pivot, highlighting the difficulty of developing N-of-1 therapies for ultra-rare diseases.