Alliance forms for development of novel AAV capsids and technologies
An alliance has been formed between SIRION Biotech and Heidelberg University Hospital for the development of novel AAV capsids and technologies addressing shortcomings of clinical gene therapy trials.
The preferred partnership agreement has been signed with Heidelberg University Hospital and AAV pioneer Professor Dirk Grimm and enables all involved to offer engineering of novel AAV capsids for the development of targeted and effective gene therapies.
“Establishing a fixed cooperation agreement with Prof. Grimm and Heidelberg University Hospital will help us streamline the way we plan and implement our AAV engineering collaborations,” stated Dr Christian Thirion, CEO and founder of SIRION Biotech GmbH. “Our industrial partners will be able to enter clinical trials months earlier than previously possible, with capsids and vectors optimized for their specified goals.”
“This collaboration with Prof. Grimm offers our customers direct access to the very latest AAV technologies, to maximise the efficiency and safety of their gene therapy programmes,” added Dr Sabine Ott, VP Business Development & Licensing.
“This preferred partnership agreement underpins our long-lasting fruitful collaboration with SIRION and accelerates our efforts to leverage our expertise in AAV capsid optimisation toward the clinic for a variety of disorders,” commented Grimm.
The introduction of AAV-based vectors has revolutionised in vivo gene delivery. They have been at the centre of gene therapy development in a wide range of diseases and offer tremendous potential. Individual applications have yielded promising results, culminating in the commercialisation of two AAV vector-based gene therapies already, and there have been recent reports from several trials projecting a growing need for vector optimisation technologies to expand the range of AAV target cells, improve vector and patient safety. With a large portion of the vector industry concentrating on the possibility of large-scale AAV production, there has been only little initiative to unify isolated talent and build a comprehensive, flexible technology platform that is accessible to the drug development industry.