Beam sues YolTech, former employee over alleged theft of AATD base-editing trade secrets

Edited by Robert McTiernan··3 min read
Beam sues YolTech, former employee over alleged theft of AATD base-editing trade secrets

Beam Therapeutics has filed a complaint in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts alleging that a former employee secretly co-founded a rival company while still working at Beam and used stolen trade secrets to develop a competing alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) base-editing program.

The complaint names Dr. Zi Jun (Emma) Wang, a former Beam Scientist II employed from March 2021 to January 2022; Dr. Yuxuan (Jensen) Wu, alleged co-founder and chief executive of Shanghai Yaotang Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (YolTech Therapeutics); YolTech; and La Jolla, California-based Serapha Bio, Inc., the US licensee of YolTech's AATD candidate.

At the center of the dispute are BEAM-302, Beam's liver-targeted, lipid nanoparticle-formulated base editor designed to correct the SERPINA1 E342K mutation, and YOLT-202, which was licensed to Serapha and renamed SERP-01. Beam alleges that YOLT-202/SERP-01 targets the same mutation using an LNP formulation for hepatocyte delivery and was developed using proprietary information taken from Beam.

Beam also challenges a Chinese patent application filed on June 23, 2022, naming Wang as sole inventor on behalf of YolTech. The application covers about 60 lipids, roughly half of which Beam alleges share a structural motif with its lead lipid.

According to the complaint, Wang secretly co-founded YolTech in July 2021 while still employed at Beam and approximately one month later accessed 46 previously unopened electronic laboratory notebook records spanning eight technical areas, including several outside her delivery-related work. Beam alleges that some of the access occurred at night and on weekends.

The lawsuit asserts claims including trade-secret misappropriation under Massachusetts and federal law, breach of contract against Wang, tortious interference, unjust enrichment, and unfair or deceptive acts. No court ruling has been made, and the case remains at the pleading stage.

The dispute also reaches into YolTech's subsequent commercialization of YOLT-202. On June 12, 2026, YolTech granted Serapha an exclusive ex-China license to the candidate. Beam alleges that the transaction included upfront cash, a minority equity stake in Serapha, and more than USD 2 billion in potential milestone payments plus royalties.

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Serapha later announced a pending all-stock reverse merger with Boundless Bio, Inc., alongside a USD 230 million concurrent private placement, with the combined company expected to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker "AATD." Serapha is planning a Phase II open-label study of SERP-01 toward the end of 2026, while a clinical trial of YOLT-202 in AATD was registered in September 2025.

Beam states in the complaint that BEAM-302 completed a Phase I/II trial with positive results and has entered a global pivotal cohort designed to support US FDA approval.

Beam is seeking a permanent injunction against the development, marketing, or sale of products derived from the alleged trade secrets, assignment of Chinese Patent Application No. 202210725548.7 and related patent rights, an accounting and constructive trust over license consideration, milestone payments, and royalty rights, as well as compensatory, exemplary, and potentially treble damages. Beam has demanded a jury trial.

The case is Beam Therapeutics Inc. v. Wang et al., Civil Action No. 1:26-cv-14414-FDS.

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