Partnership with biotech company Voyager: Novartis secures new gene therapy in billion-dollar deal

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This includes the purchase of $20 million of newly issued Voyager shares, Voyager announced Tuesday.

In addition, the biotechnology company will receive performance-based milestone payments of up to $1.2 billion, as well as royalties from potential future sales of products containing certain Voyager technology.

As part of the partnership, the two companies plan to work together to develop gene therapies for the treatment of Huntington’s disease (HD) and wasting disease (SMA).

Among other things, Novartis is acquiring worldwide rights to gene therapy from Voyager for the treatment of Huntington’s disease, a rare inherited brain disease. The US company will be responsible for preclinical development, while Novartis will be responsible for all clinical development and subsequent marketing.

Voyager shares rose 35 percent in premarket trading on Wall Street following the news.

Gene and cell therapy is seen as a great hope for the future in the fight against various diseases. Pharmaceutical giants around the world are investing billions of dollars in this approach. Gene therapies aim to cure diseases by replacing the missing or defective version of a gene in a patient’s cells with an intact gene.

Novartis has launched Zolgensma, an SMA gene therapy that the company secured in a billion-dollar acquisition and is considered the most expensive drug in the world, with a list price of over $2 million for a single treatment.

(SDA)

Source :Blick