Voyager Therapeutics (NASDAQ: $VYGR) is a pioneer biotechnology company with a prime focus on developing treatments for severe neurological diseases. Moreover, the company has advanced transformative medicines for neurological illness. The company is known for its efforts in utilizing adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors to deliver therapeutic genes to the central nervous system.
Novartis Signs Gene Therapy Deal with Voyager for $100 Million Upfront
The company announced on Tuesday, January 2nd, that they have a license agreement and strategic collaboration with Novartis to innovate the future genesis therapies for Huntington’s disease (HD) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Novartis is a leading medicine company and multinational pharmaceutical corporation in Switzerland, a subsidiary of Novartis AG (NYSE: $NVS).
Novartis is set to provide an initial payment of $100 million as a component of a licensing agreement to advance gene therapy candidates’ development. It also includes a $20 million purchase of recently issued shares in Voyager.
The Genesis developers will receive $1.2 billion in different milestones from the company.
The Chief Executive Officer of Voyager, Alfred W. Sandrock, says, “We are thrilled to expand our existing relationship with Novartis, a global leader in the gene therapy field.”
He also mentions that, “Combining the proven capabilities of Novartis in gene therapy development and commercialization with Voyager’s next-generation TRACER capsids and payloads could enable the advancement of important new therapies for patients. In addition, the consideration Voyager will receive from this collaboration will strengthen our balance sheet and extend our runway into mid-2026.”
Both companies will work on improvements and advancement of preclinical therapy candidates for HD.
Fiona Marshell, the President of Biomedical Research at Norvatis, mentions upon the agreement that the contract will certainly bring improvement in the lives of patients who are severely affected by neurologic conditions.
“We look forward to broadening our work with Voyager to help bring forward novel, high-impact gene therapies with the potential to improve the lives of patients affected by severe neurologic conditions.”
She also mentions, “We believe Voyager’s TRACER capsids hold promise for enabling next-generation gene therapies for diseases of the central nervous system, aligning well with our deep neuroscience expertise and gene therapy leadership at Novartis.”
Furthermore, Norvatis will also be privileged to access the target-exclusive of Voyager’s TRACER capsids associated with SMA, which will be under the purview of the agreement, and the responsibility for all aspects of development and commercialization will lie with the party involved with a worldwide rights of Voyager’s AAV gene therapy for HD.
Voyager Stock Update: $VYGR
Voyager’s stock jumped 35% in the premarket trading yesterday after announcing the deal with Novartis. VYGR ended up closing the trading session at just $9.00 per share, however has stock continued its upward move today. VYGR is currently up +23.67% to $11.13 per share. As of the time of writing this article, the company has a market cap of 489.2M with a volume of 2,746,784.
Final Thoughts
The recent agreement between Voyager and Novartis will bring more innovative, strategic, and advanced treatment for neurological patients. VYGR has already skyrocketed by as much as 35% because of the recent deal, and it is very likely that there is more upside to come. Make sure to keep an eye on this innovative biotech company in the days and weeks that follow.
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