Généthon (Evry, France), the nonprofit research wing of the French Muscular Dystrophy Association, announced it has entered into a collaborative agreement with Martin Childers, D.O., Ph.D., at Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, NC). The work will bring forward the preclinical development of a gene therapy for myotubular myopathy in a canine model.
Oxford BioMedica (Oxford, UK) narrowed its reported loss in comparison with last year by £3.2 million down to £6.3 million. It reports on a productive 2010 with progress on multiple fronts. ProSavin, its experimental Parkinson's disease drug, was found safe in an additional nine patients with efficacy end points being met at the lowest dose, and the study is anticipated to progress to the next dose level in 2011. For ocular indications, RetinoStat and StarGen, gene therapies for age-related macular degeneration and Stargardt's disease, respectively, are also moving forward in a partnership with Sanofi-Aventis.
Sangamo BioSciences (Richmond, CA) presented data at the 18th annual conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) on its clinical trial for HIV. In this trial, Sangamo's zinc-finger nuclease technology is designed to edit the HIV-1 coreceptor, CCR5, in order to render cells more refractory to HIV-1 infection. The ex vivo trial was carried out in six HIV-1 -positive adults, of whom five demonstrated increased CD4+ cell counts at 1 year after injection of the modified cells. This clinical trial is still enrolling subjects at its clinical centers in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York.
Sanofi-Aventis (Paris, France) plans to provide its new subsidiary Genzyme a large amount of autonomy. Hanspeter Spek, President of Global Operations of Sanofi, adds that the acquisition of Genzyme “further de-risks” the Sanofi business from expiring patents on its marketed drugs. He recognizes Genzyme's uniqueness and plans therefore to largely leave it a stand-alone organization.
