Editas signs genome-edited stem cell pact with GSK, Biogen biotech partner
By Ben Adams,
Fierce Biotech
| 07. 28. 2016
Gene editing biotech Editas Medicine ($EDIT) has signed a three-year R&D collab deal with Milan-based San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy to develop next-gen stem and T-cell therapies.
The Italian institute (also known as SR-TIGET)--which is the result of joint collab between Fondazione Telethon and Ospedale San Raffaele--will work with Cambridge, MA-based CRISPR biotech Editas to research and develop genome edited hematopoietic stem cell and T-cell therapies.
The institute already works with GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) to develop its recently approved (in Europe) stem cell therapy Strimvelis for the incredibly rare condition known colloquially as “bubble boy syndrome.” Last January, SR-TIGET also signed a collab with Big Biotech Biogen ($BIIB) to jointly develop gene therapies for the treatment of both hemophilia A and B.
The scientific work at SR-TIGET in Milan, Italy, will be led by institute director Dr. Luigi Naldini, a world-renowned expert in lentiviral gene therapy and hematology. Lentiviral vectors are engineered viruses used to deliver working versions of defective genes responsible for causing certain diseases into the patients’ cells.
Stated goals of the tie-up--financial details of which were not...
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