Evox Therapeutics enters agreement for next generation gene therapy for heart disease
Betsy Goodfellow | August 4, 2023 | News story | Research and Development | Cardiology, Evox Therapeutics, Icahn Mount Sinai, cvd, gene therapy
Evox Therapeutics has announced a research collaboration and option agreement with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Icahn Mount Sinai) in New York, US. The collaboration is expected to develop exosome-encapsulated AAV (exoAAV) vectors as a new gene therapy for the treatment of heart disease.
The companies hope that this collaboration with tackle a long-standing issue in cardiovascular medicine, which is the safe and effective delivery of genetic medicines to cardiomyocytes. The new technology is intended to enhance the precision of gene delivery to the heart muscle cells, evading immune responses and potentially redefining the use of gene therapy in cardiovascular disease (CVD) treatment.
Antonin de Fougerolles, Evox’s chief executive officer, commented: “This project is a significant step for Evox as it expands the reach of exosome-mediated delivery of genetic medicines to another organ outside of the liver. The work done by Dr. Sahoo and colleagues has already demonstrated that exosomes can significantly improve the in vivo delivery of AAV gene therapy to cardiomyocytes and could do so even in the presence of high levels of neutralising anti-AAV antibodies, thus offering the possibility of an exosome-mediated gene therapy that could be used to treat all patients irrespective of their immunological status. We believe that we can play an important role in advancing this important research toward clinical impact.”
Susmita Sahoo, PhD, associate professor of medicine and cardiology at Icahn Mount Sinai, added: “We are excited to work with Evox to advance this research. We hope to unlock the therapeutic potential of exosome-encapsulated AAVs, which could represent a transformative step in gene therapy and a major breakthrough in the treatment of heart diseases.”
Betsy Goodfellow
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