April 2 (Reuters) - Verve Therapeutics ( VERV ) said on

Tuesday that it had paused enrollment for an early-stage study

testing its experimental gene editing therapy for high

cholesterol after a patient experienced a severe drug-related

adverse event.

The company was testing the therapy in patients with a

genetic condition that leads to high cholesterol levels, which

raises the risk of heart disease. The treatment is supposed to

permanently turn off a protein called PCSK9 helping reduce blood

cholesterol levels.

The trial enrolled 13 patients, of which six were dosed with

0.45 milligrams of the therapy called VERVE-101.

The sixth patient dosed with VERVE-101 saw a rise in the

levels of a problem-causing liver enzyme along with abnormally

low levels of blood platelets within the first four days after

dosing.

Verve, which has a market cap of $1.07 billion, said it is

investigating the abnormalities and, based on the results,

expects to work with regulatory authorities on further

development of the therapy.

The genetic medicines company said it will now prioritize

the development of another gene editing therapy VERVE-102, which

is in development for the same condition.

The company plans to start an early-stage trial to test

VERVE-102 in the second quarter of this year.