After raising AU$16.75 million (US$10.4 million) in a series A round, Celosia Therapeutics Pty Ltd. is heading toward the clinic with its novel gene therapy that targets TDP-43, a protein directly linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) pathology.

At Bio Japan 2024, policymakers and industry leaders pledged to make Japan a land of drug discovery to attract native and foreign drug developers. Like many Asian countries, Japan is harnessing and prioritizing the bio sector to drive economic growth, throwing its weight behind its 10-year Bioeconomy initiative to create bioclusters and increase investment.

Sangamo Therapeutics Inc.’s stock sank sharply on the last day of 2025 as Pfizer Inc. handed back the rights to their collaborative gene therapy hemophilia A program. While it was another big loss to Sangamo, which had seen two other major deals fall through in the past two years, the company still has two large collaborations in development.

Deficiencies in the SLC6A1 gene, encoding the γ-aminobutyric acid transporter GAT-1, are associated with infantile encephalopathy with intellectual disability. Like other neurodevelopmental disorders, SLC6A1-related disorders lack effective treatments; therefore, gene therapy using viral vectors has been proposed as a potential therapeutic strategy.

Sangamo Therapeutics Inc.’s second large, worldwide licensing deal for its capsid technology in the past five months is with Astellas Pharma Inc. The California-based company is getting $20 million up front and the chance to bring in up to $1.3 billion in fees and milestone payments in an agreement spanning five potential disease targets for gene therapies to treat neurological diseases.

Arbor Biotechnologies Inc. has gained IND clearance from the FDA for ABO-101, a novel gene editing therapeutic designed to address primary hyperoxaluria type 1 (PH1). A phase I/II study in adult and pediatric patients with PH1 is expected to begin in the first half of 2025.

Sangamo Therapeutics Inc.’s second large, worldwide licensing deal for its capsid technology in the past five months is with Astellas Pharma Inc. The California-based company is getting $20 million up front and the chance to bring in up to $1.3 billion in fees and milestone payments in an agreement spanning five potential disease targets for gene therapies to treat neurological diseases.

Vigeneron GmbH has received IND approval from the FDA for VG-801, a novel mRNA trans-splicing gene therapy to treat Stargardt disease and other retinal dystrophies associated with mutations in the ABCA4 gene. IND clearance enables initiation of a phase I/II trial, with a clinical trial application (CTA) submission to the EMA also planned in the coming months.

A gene therapy based on an enhanced lipid nanoparticle (LNP) loaded with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA could be developed for the treatment of preeclampsia, according to a study in mice in which it alleviated maternal hypertension until the end of gestation and improved fetal health. Preeclampsia is a disease that affects 3% to 5% of pregnant women, who suffer from hypertension and proteinuria, elevated levels of protein in the urine, during pregnancy.