Researchers from Meiragtx Ltd. presented preclinical data on a new and optimized gene therapy based on a mini ATP7B gene for the potential treatment of Wilson’s disease (WD), a rare (1:30,000) autosomal recessive genetic disease caused by loss-of-function mutations in ATP7B, leading to a pathologically high amount of copper in the liver and brain.
Glaucoma is an eye disease that damages the optic nerve, with the main cause being ocular hypertension due to high resistance to the outflow of aqueous humor.
Bloomsbury Genetic Therapies Ltd. has raised £5 million (US$5.5 million) in a seed round, to take four gene therapy programs based on research carried out by the scientific founders at University College London into clinical development.
After winning the backing of European regulators, Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. is returning to the U.S. FDA with its hemophilia A gene therapy, valoctocogene roxaparvovec, following a rejection in August 2020. It's armed with data it hopes will assuage concerns about long-term safety and benefits.
Recognizing that academic sponsors and nonprofits are major contributors to the development of advanced therapy medical products (ATMPs) and diagnostic and delivery devices, the EMA is launching a pilot program to help them navigate the challenging regulatory requirements in the space.
Ambulero Inc., a spinout from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, has received a positive response from a type B pre-IND meeting with the FDA on the development of AMB-301 as a treatment for the vascular disease Buerger's disease.
SBT-101 (Swanbio Therapeutics Inc.) is an adeno-associated virus serotype 9 (AAV9)-based gene therapy that delivers a functional copy of the ABCD1 gene and is under development for the treatment of adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN).
Bluebird Bio Inc.’s elivaldogene autotemcel (eli-cel) gained U.S. approval late Sept. 16 for use in early active cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (CALD), making it the firm’s second gene therapy to clear the FDA in as many months. Branded Skysona, eli-cel is expected to be available commercially by the end of 2022 and its launch will require only “incremental” company resources on top of those required for the ongoing launch of beta-thalassemia gene therapy Zynteglo (betibeglogene autotemcel), Bluebird said.
Ocular gene therapy firm Sparingvision SA raised €75 million (US$75 million) in a series B round to fund its transition to clinical development. The company is about to move its lead program, the mutation-agnostic gene therapy SPVN-06, into a phase I trial in retinitis pigmentosa (RP). “We are in the middle of the regulatory submission process,” CEO Stéphane Boissel told BioWorld.
Coave Therapeutics SA has entered into a collaboration with the Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases (IMN), a joint research unit associating the University of Bordeaux and the French National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS), to develop gene therapy programs targeting protein degradation in neurodegenerative disorders.
RSS
