The most ambitious objective of any treatment is to eradicate the disease, acting on its origin to cure it instead of treating its symptoms. This is the purpose of the gene therapy against type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity that Fractyl Health Inc. is developing. Scientists from the Lexington, Mass.-based company have designed a strategy based on glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) to transform pancreatic cells and reverse the disease.

Researchers based at Uppsala University in Sweden have created an adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector treatment for glioma or glioblastoma that extended survival in a mouse model of the brain cancer. Writing in the May 11, 2023, issue of Cancer Cell, the researchers reported that by introducing an inflammatory protein known as LIGHT to the tumor microenvironment using the AAV treatment, the mice were better able to fight the cancer.

Complement Therapeutics GmbH raised €72 million (US$79.4 million) in a series A round to move into the clinic a novel gene therapy for treating geographic atrophy secondary to dry age-related macular degeneration. It’s the largest series A round completed in Europe so far this year.

The U.S. FDA has lifted the clinical hold on Astellas Pharma Inc.’s Fortis phase I/II trial evaluating AAV gene replacement therapy AT-845 in adults with late-onset Pompe disease.

The U.S. FDA has lifted the clinical hold on Astellas Pharma Inc.’s Fortis phase I/II trial evaluating adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene replacement therapy AT-845 in adults with late-onset Pompe disease.

Little more than a month after the U.S. FDA approved the first gene therapy for adults with hemophilia B, Uniqure NV’s Hemgenix, strong phase III data have come from Pfizer Inc. The Pfizer results show fidanacogene elaparvovec, a vector containing an AAV capsid and a high-activity human coagulation factor IX (FIX) gene for treating adult men with moderately severe to severe hemophilia B, hit the primary endpoint in the phase III Benegene-2 study. The one-time therapy is designed to allow those living with hemophilia B to be able to produce FIX instead of receiving regular, ongoing doses of exogenous FIX.

Eikonoklastes Therapeutics Inc. and Forge Biologics Inc. have established a manufacturing partnership to advance Eikonoklastes' adeno-associated viral (AAV)-based gene therapy, ET-101, into clinical trials for the treatment of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Emulate Inc. has launched a new adeno-associated virus (AAV) transduction application for the Liver-Chip that enables gene therapy researchers to test the delivery efficiency and safety of AAV vectors in a validated, human-relevant model of the liver and get results in weeks.

Although gene therapy is now “a clinical reality,” it still remains an early stage therapeutic modality. That’s the view of Caroline Man Xu, CEO and co-founder of Vigeneron GmbH, a German gene therapy company that has maintained a low profile while steadily staking out a promising position in gene therapies for inherited retinal disease.