Crispr Therapeutics’ stock soars as FDA-panel meeting raises hopes sickle-cell-disease drug will be approved

Crispr Therapeutics AG’s stock rallied 12% Wednesday, after a positive meeting of a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on a treatment for sickle-cell disease raised hopes it will win regulatory approval.

The gene-editing drug, called exa-cel, is being developed by Crispr CRSP and partner Vertex Pharmaceuticals VRTX. The FDA has set a Dec. 8 target action date for possible approval of the treatment, which would make it the first approved therapy using the gene-editing technology called Crispr.

Sickle-cell…