Wellcome invests $38M in another gene therapy startup, targeting hemophilia
The Wellcome Trust's investment arm is putting up £25 million ($38 million) to launch a new company developing a potential one-time treatment for hemophilia and planning to build a pipeline of gene therapies.
Dubbed Freeline Therapeutics, the company is getting off the ground with help from Wellcome's Syncona subsidiary and technology licensed from University College London, looking to build the clinical case for a treatment that could reverse hemophilia B.
Hemophilia, which can lead to fatal bleeding episodes, results from a deficiency of key proteins needed for coagulation. Freeline's top prospect uses a harmless strain of adeno-associated virus to correct that deficiency, delivering a healthy copy of the gene responsible for regulating one such protein and treating hemophilia in the process.
Dimension Therapeutics ($DMTX), which went public this year, is taking a similar approach to bleeding disorders, planning to get its gene therapy for hemophilia B into clinical trials this year and working with Bayer on an early-stage treatment for hemophilia A.
Freeline is Syncona's second big bet on gene therapy this year, following the firm's investment in an University of Oxford spinout called NightstaRx that is at work on a one-time treatment for a rare disease that leads to blindness.
http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/wellcome-invests-38m-another-gene-therapy-startup-targeting-hemophilia/2015-12-11
Dubbed Freeline Therapeutics, the company is getting off the ground with help from Wellcome's Syncona subsidiary and technology licensed from University College London, looking to build the clinical case for a treatment that could reverse hemophilia B.
Hemophilia, which can lead to fatal bleeding episodes, results from a deficiency of key proteins needed for coagulation. Freeline's top prospect uses a harmless strain of adeno-associated virus to correct that deficiency, delivering a healthy copy of the gene responsible for regulating one such protein and treating hemophilia in the process.
Dimension Therapeutics ($DMTX), which went public this year, is taking a similar approach to bleeding disorders, planning to get its gene therapy for hemophilia B into clinical trials this year and working with Bayer on an early-stage treatment for hemophilia A.
Freeline is Syncona's second big bet on gene therapy this year, following the firm's investment in an University of Oxford spinout called NightstaRx that is at work on a one-time treatment for a rare disease that leads to blindness.
http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/wellcome-invests-38m-another-gene-therapy-startup-targeting-hemophilia/2015-12-11
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