Voyager Therapeutics Licenses Novel Gene Therapy Capsids from the California Institute of Technology
September 15 2016 - 7:05AM
Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VYGR), a clinical-stage gene
therapy company developing life-changing treatments for severe
diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), today announced a
co-exclusive worldwide license agreement with the California
Institute of Technology (Caltech) related to novel adeno-associated
virus (AAV) capsids. The license agreement covers all fields
of use and includes novel AAV capsids that have demonstrated
enhanced blood-brain barrier penetration for the potential
treatment of CNS diseases following systemic administration of an
AAV gene therapy vector.
Under the agreement, Voyager agreed to purchase
co-exclusive rights to the novel AAV capsids, intellectual property
and related technology. Voyager will further compensate Caltech
upon achievement of certain development and regulatory milestones
and share royalties upon the potential commercial launch of
products utilizing the capsids included in the agreement.
“The agreement announced today with Caltech
expands Voyager’s portfolio of AAV capsids to include novel capsids
with enhanced blood-brain barrier penetration and CNS targeting,”
said Dinah Sah, Ph.D., senior vice president of neuroscience at
Voyager Therapeutics. “We are excited to be able to partner
with Dr. Ben Deverman and Professor Viviana Gradinaru at Caltech to
continue to advance this technology which, in preclinical studies,
generated AAV variants that broadly transduced the CNS with
enhanced efficiency after intravenous
injection.”
About Voyager Therapeutics
Voyager Therapeutics is a clinical-stage gene
therapy company developing life-changing treatments for severe
diseases of the CNS. Voyager is committed to advancing the
field of AAV (adeno-associated virus) gene therapy through
innovation and investment in vector engineering and optimization,
manufacturing and dosing and delivery techniques. The
Company’s pipeline is focused on severe CNS diseases in need of
effective new therapies, including advanced Parkinson’s disease, a
monogenic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Friedreich’s
ataxia, Huntington’s disease, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA),
frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and severe, chronic
pain. Voyager has broad strategic collaborations with Sanofi
Genzyme, the specialty care global business unit of Sanofi, and the
University of Massachusetts Medical School. Founded by
scientific and clinical leaders in the fields of AAV gene therapy,
expressed RNA interference and neuroscience, Voyager Therapeutics
is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more
information, please visit www.voyagertherapeutics.com. Follow
Voyager on LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking
statements for the purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal
securities law. The use of words such as “may,” “might,” “will,”
“should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,”
“project,” “intend,” “future,” “potential,” or “continue,” and
other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. For example, all statements Voyager makes
regarding the initiation, timing, progress and reporting of results
of its preclinical programs and clinical trials and its research
and development programs, its ability to advance its AAV-based gene
therapies into, and successfully complete, clinical trials, its
ability to continue to develop its product engine, its ability to
add new programs to its pipeline, its expected cash, cash
equivalents and marketable securities at the end of the fiscal year
and anticipation for how long expected cash, cash equivalents and
marketable securities will last, and the timing or likelihood of
its regulatory filings and approvals, are forward looking.
All forward-looking statements are based on estimates and
assumptions by Voyager’s management that, although Voyager believes
to be reasonable, are inherently uncertain. All
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties
that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that
Voyager expected. These statements are also subject to a
number of material risks and uncertainties that are described in
Voyager’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated by its future
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any
forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it
was made. Voyager undertakes no obligation to publicly update
or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as required by
law.
Investor Relations:
Matt Osborne
Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
857-259-5353
mosborne@vygr.com
Media:
Katie Engleman
Pure Communications, Inc.
910-509-3977
Katie@purecommunicationsinc.com
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