SIRION Biotech has signed a licensing and collaboration agreement with Sanofi. Together, the two companies aim to develop improved AAV capsids for gene therapy treatments of life-threatening diseases.
SIRION Biotech, based in Martinsried near Munich, is a leading commercial supplier of viral vector technologies to empower gene therapy studies for their move into clinical trials. Under the agreement, Sanofi, together with SIRION Biotech and Prof. Dirk Grimm, scientist in the field of AAV biology and application working at Heidelberg University Hospital, will combine their proprietary technology platforms to create a next generation of AAV vectors.
The partners aim to generate new and modified AAV capsids with a safe product profile and improved specificity, as well as increased gene delivery efficiency.
“This partnership adds to our expanding toolbox of technologies in the important, emerging area of gene therapeutics,” said Dr. Christian Mueller, global head of genomic medicine at Sanofi. “Leveraging our expertise in virus-based vaccine and viral vector manufacturing together with Prof. Grimm's cutting-edge AAV capsid evolution technology and SIRION's expertise and capabilities in AAV vector manufacturing will allow us to better address unmet medical needs and open new frontiers for drug discovery in genomic medicine.”
“We are delighted to be collaborating with Sanofi,” stated Christian Thirion, Ph.D., CEO and Co founder of SIRION. “Sanofi is an ideal partner with decades-long experience in treating a multitude of disorders and exploring viral vectors as a therapeutic modality. AAV vectors with improved efficacy can enable quickly entering into clinical trials with efficient, safe low doses and scalable therapeutic candidates and can expand the impact of gene therapies.” Sabine Ott, Senior Vice President BD & Licensing at SIRION added: “We believe that through this exclusive partnership with Sanofi within these large disease fields, AAV-based gene therapies will provide novel treatment options to many millions of patients worldwide suffering from these diseases”.