Sangamo Therapeutics and Genentech team up to develop genomic medicines for neurodegenerative diseases
James Spargo | August 7, 2024 | News story | Research and Development | Genentech, Neurology, Sangamo Therapeutics, genomic medicine, neurodegenerative diseases
Genomic medicine company Sangamo Therapeutics and Genentech have entered into a licensing agreement to develop intravenously administered genomic medicines to treat neurodegenerative diseases.
Sangamo is expected to receive $50m in near-term upfront license fees and milestone payments after granting Genentech exclusive licensing for its proprietary zinc finger repressors – that are directed to the tau gene – and other tauopathies. Sangamo’s neurotropic adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsid, STAC-BBB, which has shown potent blood-brain barrier penetration and brain transduction in non-human primate studies, is also included in the agreement.
Sangamo could also potentially earn up to $1.9bn in development and commercial milestone payments, spread across multiple potential products, and tiered royalties on net sales of these products.
“Sangamo has been pioneering the field of genomic medicine for years to address devastating neurodegenerative diseases with limited current treatment options,” said Sandy Macrae, CEO of Sangamo. “We strongly believe in the power of our zinc finger technology to regulate the expression of key genes involved in disease. The recent discovery of our industry-leading intravenously delivered AAV capsid, STAC-BBB, has the potential to address longstanding challenges in delivering therapeutics to the central nervous system. We are excited to share this powerful combination with Genentech to advance potential treatment options for devastating neurodegenerative disorders, and we are hopeful this could be the first of multiple capsid collaborations to come with other partners.”
Boris L Zaïtra, head of Roche Corporate Business Development, continued: “We are uniquely positioned with our collective experience, expertise and resources in neurological research to explore transformative approaches, including gene therapy, that treat neurodegenerative diseases. Through ground-breaking research and partnerships with companies such as Sangamo, we are committed to pursuing important breakthroughs in both early diagnosis and treatment. Our relentless pursuit of scientific innovation is taking us into areas of enormous unmet medical need and progress in treating diseases of the brain and nervous system.”
James Spargo
7/8/24
Related Content
PLL Therapeutics to present ALS research strategy at Bioshares Biotech Summit
French biotech, PLL Therapeutics, will present its approach to early detection and treatment of Amyotrophic …
Sanofi completes acquisition of Vigil Neuroscience to early neurology pipeline
Sanofi has announced that it has finalised its acquisition of Vigil Neuroscience, a US-based biotechnology …
Neurizon confirms positive results for prospective ALS treatment
Neurizon Therapeutics has announced new preclinical data confirming that NUZ-001 and its active metabolite, NUZ-001 …
