CAMBRIDGE, MA, USA I August 03, 2020 I Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VYGR), a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing treatments for severe neurological diseases, today announced the termination of its tau and alpha-synuclein vectorized antibody collaborations with AbbVie. Voyager retains full rights to the vectorization technology and certain novel vectorized antibodies developed as part of the collaborations.
“Our efforts to harness AAV-based gene therapy to produce antibodies directly in the brain and overcome major limitations with delivery of current biologics across the blood-brain barrier have been highly productive,” said Omar Khwaja, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer and Head of R&D at Voyager. “Through the tau and alpha-synuclein collaborations, we believe we have made considerable progress against targets for neurodegenerative diseases with this novel approach, reinforcing our enthusiasm for its potential to deliver therapeutically efficacious levels of biologics to the brain and central nervous system. We believe our continued work on discovery and design of novel AAV capsids with substantially improved blood-brain barrier penetrance will also considerably broaden the potential of AAV-based gene therapy, including vectorized antibodies or other biologics, for the treatment of severe neurological diseases.”
The tau and alpha-synuclein research collaborations were formed in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Under the terms of the collaboration agreements, Voyager received upfront payments to perform research and preclinical development of vectorized antibodies directed against tau and alpha-synuclein. With the conclusion of the collaborations, Voyager has regained full clinical development and commercialization rights to certain product candidates developed within the context of the collaboration for the tau program. Voyager is free to pursue vectorized antibody programs for tau and alpha-synuclein alone or in collaboration with another partner.
Voyager does not anticipate any changes to its cash runway guidance due to the termination of the agreements. As of March 31, 2020, the Company had cash, cash equivalents and marketable debt securities of $250.9 million, which, along with amounts expected to be received for reimbursement of development costs from Neurocrine Biosciences, is expected to be sufficient to meet Voyager’s projected operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into mid-2022.
About Voyager Therapeutics
Voyager Therapeutics is a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing treatments for severe neurological diseases. Voyager is committed to advancing the field of AAV gene therapy through innovation and investment in vector engineering and optimization, manufacturing, and dosing and delivery techniques. Voyager’s wholly owned and partnered pipeline focuses on severe neurological diseases for which effective new therapies are needed, including Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Friedreich’s ataxia, and other severe neurological diseases. For more information, please visit www.voyagertherapeutics.com or follow @VoyagerTx on Twitter and LinkedIn.
SOURCE: Voyager Therapeutics
Post Views: 21
CAMBRIDGE, MA, USA I August 03, 2020 I Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VYGR), a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing treatments for severe neurological diseases, today announced the termination of its tau and alpha-synuclein vectorized antibody collaborations with AbbVie. Voyager retains full rights to the vectorization technology and certain novel vectorized antibodies developed as part of the collaborations.
“Our efforts to harness AAV-based gene therapy to produce antibodies directly in the brain and overcome major limitations with delivery of current biologics across the blood-brain barrier have been highly productive,” said Omar Khwaja, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer and Head of R&D at Voyager. “Through the tau and alpha-synuclein collaborations, we believe we have made considerable progress against targets for neurodegenerative diseases with this novel approach, reinforcing our enthusiasm for its potential to deliver therapeutically efficacious levels of biologics to the brain and central nervous system. We believe our continued work on discovery and design of novel AAV capsids with substantially improved blood-brain barrier penetrance will also considerably broaden the potential of AAV-based gene therapy, including vectorized antibodies or other biologics, for the treatment of severe neurological diseases.”
The tau and alpha-synuclein research collaborations were formed in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Under the terms of the collaboration agreements, Voyager received upfront payments to perform research and preclinical development of vectorized antibodies directed against tau and alpha-synuclein. With the conclusion of the collaborations, Voyager has regained full clinical development and commercialization rights to certain product candidates developed within the context of the collaboration for the tau program. Voyager is free to pursue vectorized antibody programs for tau and alpha-synuclein alone or in collaboration with another partner.
Voyager does not anticipate any changes to its cash runway guidance due to the termination of the agreements. As of March 31, 2020, the Company had cash, cash equivalents and marketable debt securities of $250.9 million, which, along with amounts expected to be received for reimbursement of development costs from Neurocrine Biosciences, is expected to be sufficient to meet Voyager’s projected operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into mid-2022.
About Voyager Therapeutics
Voyager Therapeutics is a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing treatments for severe neurological diseases. Voyager is committed to advancing the field of AAV gene therapy through innovation and investment in vector engineering and optimization, manufacturing, and dosing and delivery techniques. Voyager’s wholly owned and partnered pipeline focuses on severe neurological diseases for which effective new therapies are needed, including Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Friedreich’s ataxia, and other severe neurological diseases. For more information, please visit www.voyagertherapeutics.com or follow @VoyagerTx on Twitter and LinkedIn.
SOURCE: Voyager Therapeutics
Post Views: 21
