Voyager Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VYGR) shares have jumped on the news that the biotechnology company has entered into a strategic collaboration with Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ:NBIX) Inc to advance multiple gene therapies for the treatment of neurological diseases.
The company’s stock was up 15.7% at US$8.05 just before noon on Monday, while Neurocrine shares had shed 9.3% to US$111.62.
In a statement, Voyager said that the collaboration includes its preclinical, intravenously administered GBA1 gene therapy program for Parkinson’s disease and other GBA1-mediated diseases, which combines a GBA1 gene replacement payload with novel capsids from Voyager’s TRACER platform.
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Further, the two companies have agreed to collaborate on three new gene therapy programs directed to rare central nervous system targets leveraging Voyager’s TRACER capsids.
Analysts at Baird Equity Research wrote in a note that they were encouraged by Voyager’s partnership announcement, raising their price target for the stock from US$9 to US$12 with an ‘Outperform’ rating.
They highlighted that under the terms of the partnership Voyager would receive US$175 million upfront and up to US$4.2 billion in milestones and, notably, Neurocrine would be responsible for all of the development costs for the GBA1 program through the Phase 1 data at which point Voyager has the right to opt-in to a 50/50 US partnership.
“We are very encouraged by this deal structure as it should allow for the near-term advancement of the GBA1 program in a cost-effective manner, while also allowing for Voyager to opt-in and potentially participate significantly in the long-term upside of this product after proof-of-concept data is produced, should management choose,” the analysts wrote.
Baird’s analysts also noted this collaboration involving Voyager’s novel capsids, along with previously announced deals with Pfizer and Novartis, indicated the potential for additional partnerships where Voyager may license out the use of proprietary vectors for transgenes that the company does not plan to pursue internally.
“We believe these deals could provide the company with a strong source of non-dilutive capital in the near-term, as they look to develop their internal pipeline candidates, and may provide significant upside in the long-term should one of their partners successfully develop a product featuring a licensed capsid,” the analysts wrote.
“We anticipate the potential entrance of additional partnerships could continue to spark investor enthusiasm.”
Contact the author at emily.jarvie@proactiveinvestors.com
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