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Biogen (BIIB) Signs New Gene Therapy Deal for CNS Disorders

Biogen, Inc. BIIB announced a collaboration deal with New Jersey based gene therapy company, Capsigen to discover and develop novel AAV capsids for targeted central nervous system (CNS) and neuromuscular disorders. These AAV capsids, to be discovered by utilizing Capsigen’s proprietary TRADE platform, have the potential to be developed into transformative gene therapies that can address the underlying genetic causes of such disorders.

These AAV capsids with improved delivery profiles hold the potential to solve key technological problems faced in the delivery of gene therapies to target tissue. Per the deal, Biogen gets rights to Capsigen’s proprietary technology for an undisclosed number of CNS and neuromuscular disease targets against an upfront payment of $15 million. In addition, Capsigen will be eligible to receive up to $42 million in potential research milestones and up to an additional $1.25 billion in potential development and commercial fees should the deal achieve certain development/sales milestones.

Biogen’s stock has risen 13.6% this year so far against a decrease of 5.2% for the industry

Biogen is trying to diversify its pipeline and aims to be a leader in neuroscience and the adjacent therapeutic area. In almost four years from 2017-2020, Biogen executed 20 business development transactions, which significantly boosted its pipeline.

Among some recent deals, Biogen signed a collaboration with Sangamo Therapeutics SGMO in 2020 to make gene regulation therapies for a range of neurological indications including Alzheimer's disease. It also collaborated with Denali Therapeutics DNLI in August 2020 to co-develop and co-commercialize the latter’s small molecule LRRK2 inhibitor program, DNL151, for Parkinson’s disease, which will enter late-stage development in 2021.In November 2020, Biogen signed a collaboration with Sage Therapeutics SAGE, which added a late-stage program (zuranolone) in depression and movement disorders.

Biogen has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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