Biogen, Sangamo Sign Deal To Develop Gene Therapies For Neurological Diseases

(RTTNews) - Biogen Inc. (BIIB) and Sangamo Therapeutics Inc. (SGMO), Thursday announced that they have reached a global collaboration deal to develop gene regulation therapies for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, neuromuscular, and other neurological diseases.

The companies said that they will develop and commercialize ST-501 for tauopathies including Alzheimer's disease, ST-502 for synucleinopathies including Parkinson's disease, a third undisclosed neuromuscular disease target, and up to nine additional undisclosed neurological disease targets.

The companies will leverage Sangamo's proprietary zinc finger protein technology delivered via adeno-associated virus to modulate the expression of key genes involved in neurological diseases.

"As a pioneer in neuroscience, Biogen will collaborate with Sangamo on a new gene regulation therapy approach, working at the DNA level, with the potential to treat challenging neurological diseases of global significance. We aim to develop and advance these programs forward to investigational new drug applications," said Alfred Sandrock Jr., M.D., Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Research and Development at Biogen.

SGMO closed Thursday's trading at $6.66, down $0.22 or 3.27%, on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, gained $2.60 or 38.93%, in the after-hours trade.