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Astellas Gene Therapies is closing its San Francisco biomanufacturing facility, shifting gene therapy manufacturing to North Carolina, cutting at least 17 employees and affecting dozens more.
Clinical trial concerns and a negative advisory committee vote ultimately sunk the treatment.
Sangamo Therapeutics announced Tuesday it secured an exclusive licensing agreement with Roche’s Genentech, which is paying $50 million in near-term upfront fees and milestone payments to develop novel genomic medicines for neurodegenerative diseases.
Ultracompact CRISPR systems, which are in some cases one-third the size of Cas9, are being designed to be more specific and enable in vivo gene editing in difficult to reach tissues.
While many describe California as having a tough life sciences market, there’s some optimism that employment opportunities will improve soon, according to California Life Sciences President and CEO Mike Guerra.
Sangamo and Pfizer’s hemophilia A gene therapy candidate scored a Phase III victory last week. However, with the genomic medicine company soon to run out of cash, Sangamo’s short-term prospects look bleak but not unsalvageable, analysts say.
The last few months have been difficult for Gilead, with several late-stage failures and development discontinuations. Amid these problems, Merdad Parsey will be stepping down from his CMO role early next year.
Mid-stage data for 4D Molecular Therapeutics’ wet AMD drug 4D-150 show improvements in visual acuity, reduced injection rate and encouraging safety data.
As the yearslong litigation over ownership of CRISPR gene editing continues, investors have forged ahead with funding the technology’s development by biopharma.
Following a disappointing IPO and the loss of Moderna’s gene editing contract, Metagenomi’s Chief Scientific Officer Luis Borges is departing the biotech.
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