Astellas Pharma To Support Development Of Taysha's AAV-based Gene Therapy Programs

(RTTNews) - Astellas Pharma Inc. (ALPMY, ALPMY) will invest in Taysha Gene Therapies Inc. (TSHA) to support the advancement of Taysha's adeno-associated virus or AAV gene therapy development programs for the treatment of Rett syndrome and giant axonal neuropathy or GAN, Taysha Gene said in a statement.

TSHA closed Monday regular trading at $1.51 up $0.05 or 3.42%. In the after-hours trade, the stock further gained $0.91 or 60.26%.

As per the terms of agreement, Astellas will invest a total of $50 million to acquire 15% of the outstanding common stock of Taysha and to receive an exclusive option to license two of Taysha's clinical stage programs: TSHA-102 for Rett syndrome and TSHA-120 for GAN.

In addition, Taysha has granted Astellas certain rights related to any potential change of control of Taysha.

In connection with its equity investment, Astellas will receive one Board observer seat on Taysha's Board of Directors.

Taysha is engaged in the development of intrathecally-delivered AAV gene therapies for monogenic central nervous system diseases. As a part of the platform approach, Taysha has a promising pipeline, including TSHA-102, which is the first-and-only gene therapy in clinical development for Rett syndrome, and TSHA-120, which is in Phase 1/2 development for the treatment of GAN and awaiting regulatory feedback.