Voyager Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VYGR) shares rallied more than 30% in Tuesday pre-market trading after the company announced a strategic collaboration and capsid license agreement worth up to $1.2 billion with Novartis Pharma to advance potential gene therapies for Huntington’s disease (HD) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
The biotechnology company said it will provide Novartis Pharma, a subsidiary of Novartis AG (ADR) (NYSE:NVS), a target-exclusive license to access its TRACER capsids and other intellectual property for the respective diseases. The two companies will then collaborate to advance a preclinical gene therapy candidate for HD.
“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,” Voyager CEO Dr Alfred Sandrock said in a statement.
“In addition, the consideration Voyager will receive from this collaboration will strengthen our balance sheet and extend our runway into mid-2026.”
Under the agreement, Novartis has agreed to pay it $100 million upfront, including a $20 million purchase of newly issued equity in Voyager. Voyager is eligible to receive up to $1.2 billion in preclinical, development, regulatory and sales milestones, as well as tiered royalties on global net sales of products incorporating its TRACER capsids.
Novartis will obtain target-exclusive access to Voyager’s TRACER capsids related to SMA for the duration of the agreement and will be responsible for all development and commercialization. It will also receive worldwide rights to Voyager’s AAV gene therapy for HD, leveraging the TRACER capsids and proprietary payloads. Voyager will be responsible for preclinical advancement and Novartis will be responsible for all clinical development and commercialization for the HD program.
“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,” commented Fiona Marshall, president of Biomedical Research at Novartis.
“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.”