ViGeneron announces follow-on collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo to develop a novel gene therapy for prevalent eye diseases

• The companies agree a follow-on collaboration to evaluate ViGeneron’s adeno-associated virus vectors (vgAAVs) for delivering Daiichi Sankyo’s novel therapeutic protein to treat prevalent eye diseases
  

MUNICH, Germany, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ViGeneron GmbH, a next-generation gene therapy company, today announced a follow-on collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited (“Daiichi Sankyo”) to utilize ViGeneron’s novel engineered recombinant adeno-associated virus vectors (vgAAVs) to address an undisclosed target for the treatment of prevalent eye diseases. Financial terms are not disclosed.

ViGeneron has worked on this program together with Daiichi Sankyo since early 2021.This follow-on collaboration allows the companies to create and validate vgAAV-based therapeutic candidates for the undisclosed target through in-vivo animal studies.

Through a unique and stringent in vivo selection procedure, where an AAV2-based peptide-display library was intravenously administered in mouse models followed by isolation of vector DNA from target cells after only 24 hours, ViGeneron’s two novel vgAAV vectors termed vgAAV.GL and vgAAV.NN were identified and characterized. These novel vgAAV vectors mediate a widespread and high-level retinal transduction after intravitreal injection in a wide range of preclinical models and efficiently transduce photoreceptors in human retinal explant cultures.

“Based on our partnership and findings, to date, we look forward to a successful follow-on collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo and potentially to developing a new sustained therapy that will address a dire need for many patients suffering from prevalent eye diseases,” commented Dr. Caroline Man Xu, Co-founder and CEO of ViGeneron. “Furthermore, the advancement of our research agreement exemplifies the potential of our intravitreally injected vgAAV vectors for large and commercially significant disease areas.”

About ViGeneron

ViGeneron is dedicated to bringing gene therapy innovations to people in need. The company is advancing its proprietary gene therapy pipeline to treat ophthalmic diseases, while partnering with leading biopharmaceutical players in retinal diseases, CNS, and other disease areas. ViGeneron’s two novel next-generation gene therapy platforms are geared towards addressing the limitations of existing adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapies. The first, vgAAV vector platform, enables a superior transduction efficiency of target cells and is designed to overcome biological barriers, thus enabling novel, less invasive routes of administration such as intravitreal injections. The second, REVeRT (REconstitution Via mRNA Trans-splicing) technology platform, allows efficient reconstitution of large genes (>5Kb) in various tissues such as retina, brain, heart, liver, and skeletal muscle. Privately-owned ViGeneron was founded in 2017 by a seasoned team with in-depth experience in AAV vector technology and clinical ophthalmic gene therapy programs and is located in Munich, Germany. For further information, please visit www.vigeneron.com