Alector Inc. Chief Operating Officer Shehnaaz Suliman said her company’s deal with Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) – worth as much as $2.2 billion – “allows us to expand into indications that we have been quite thoughtful about doing, but in a more expeditious manner. This is really an opportune time to continue to explore the biology of these programs across multiple indications.”
The acceptance by the FDA of Prevail Therapeutics Inc.’s IND for the one-time, fast-tracked gene therapy PR-006 provided hope for 50,000 to 60,000 people in the U.S beset by frontotemporal dementia with the GRN mutation (FTD-GRN), and the New York-based company is moving ahead with a phase I/II experiment called Proclaim.