Neurimmune and REGENXBIO Announce Collaboration to Develop Vectorized Antibodies for the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases
Zurich, Switzerland and Rockville, MD, July 24, 2019 — Neurimmune AG, a leading clinical-stage Swiss biotech company translating human immune memory into antibody therapeutics and REGENXBIO Inc. (Nasdaq: RGNX), a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company seeking to improve lives through the curative potential of gene therapy based on its proprietary NAV® Technology Platform, today announced an exclusive license, development and commercialization agreement to discover and develop novel AAV gene therapies using NAV Vectors to deliver human antibodies against targets implicated in chronic neurodegenerative diseases, including tauopathies.
“Neurimmune’s Reverse Translational Medicine technology decodes the genetic information of immune cells obtained from healthy aged people to identify next generation antibody therapeutics,” said Jan Grimm, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Neurimmune. “We are excited to partner with REGENXBIO and combine our human antibody technology with REGENXBIO’s AAV expertise to develop vectorized human antibodies as a novel treatment modality. We believe the potential to deliver sustained levels of therapeutic human antibodies to the brain with AAV vectors may have a significant impact on chronic neurodegenerative conditions.”
“REGENXBIO is at the forefront of research and development of AAV-mediated antibody gene therapies,” said Olivier Danos, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of REGENXBIO. “We are thrilled to initiate our partnership with Neurimmune, which builds on promising results to date with our RGX-314 clinical-stage program, where we are using our NAV Vectors to deliver a therapeutic antibody for the treatment of wet AMD.”
Under the exclusive license, development and commercialization agreement, Neurimmune and REGENXBIO will jointly develop and commercialize novel therapies using AAV vectors to deliver human antibodies. Initially, the companies will focus on diseases associated with the accumulation and deposition of the microtubule-associated protein tau (tauopathies). Neurimmune and REGENXBIO will be jointly responsible for the design and development of vectorized antibody therapies and will share associated development costs equally. Following an initial research phase, on a target-by-target basis, each party will have the option to continue as a co-development and co-commercialization partner in the collaboration or to elect to receive a phase-based worldwide royalty in lieu of continued development investment. The companies have initiated their first exclusive collaboration program for the treatment of tauopathies and will provide updates on program progress as the collaboration advances.