Fire Awards | CRISPR deal | ImprovBoston's final bow

Welcome to the BBJ's LinkedIn Weekly Edition! I'm Digital Editor?Jess Aloe, bringing you the business knowledge you need this week.

These startups are on fire!?

The Fire Awards is BostInno’s premier awards and events showcase. Every year, we recognize 50 companies, organizations or people that have had a banner year within the local ecosystem. These companies have demonstrated their success in raising funds, launching new products, bringing in new customers, growing their Boston footprint and supporting the local community and innovation ecosystem. Check out the list here.

In addition to the 50 honorees, BostInno also announced the Inno Blazers — a single winner from each category chosen by our panel of industry judges.

BostInno honored the winners at an event at the W earlier this week. Missed it? Check out the photos.

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Here's what else happened this week:

ImprovBoston’s final bow

ImprovBoston announced this week that it would shut down after more than 40? years.?

Why? Losing its theater in Cambridge's Central Square during the pandemic was a turning point. Despite its best efforts, the organization just couldn’t recover. The managing director sat down with Lucia Maffei to go over what went wrong.?

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Vertex to pay hefty fee

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc . will pay a hefty price to local competitor Editas Medicine before it starts selling its newly approved sickle-cell treatment — the first-ever CRISPR drug to be approved in the U.S.

Vertex will pay $50 million up front in cash; potentially another $50 million in a "contingent upfront payment," per a securities filing; and annual license fees between $10 million and $40 million to Cambridge's Editas, which holds the patent to the technology underpinning the drug.?

Read more about the deal and the patent battle that spurred it.

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State Street layoffs

Amid executive leadership changes, Boston-based State Street Corp. is cutting 1,500 of its employees across the company. Get the details.?

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Beth Israel Lahey reshuffles leadership

The state's second-largest health system announced several changes over the weekend among its top leadership as it continues to emphasize better integrating services across the system. The changes come as Beth Israel Lahey Health is pushing for increased growth to compete with the state's biggest health system, Mass General Brigham. Read more.

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