Editas Medicine Inc (NASDAQ:EDIT) shares jumped 11% as it tied up a research deal for its pioneering gene-editing treatments with giant pharma Allergan PLC (NYSE:AGN).
The Dublin-based maker of Botox has paid US$90mln for an exclusive option on five of Editas’s development programmes including its flagship pre-clinical programme for Leber Congenital Amaurosis or LCA10.
The condition is the most common cause of inherited childhood blindness, with an incidence of two to three per 100,000 live births worldwide.
Allergan will additional royalty and commercial payments if Editas’ LCA10 programme proves commercial.
Editas is best known as one of three companies currently locked in a courtroom battle over the ownership of the gene-editing technique CRISPR, which is seen as potentially heralding the next step forward in a whole range of treatments.
Along with Botox, eyecare, meanwhile, is a key part of Allergan's aesthetics business.
“Allergan has long been a leader in advancing innovative therapies to treat eye diseases,” said Katrine Bosley, Editas’s chief executive.
“Working together with Allergan through their Open Science R&D model significantly enhances our ability to develop genome editing medicines to help patients with serious eye diseases."
Editas shares rose to US$26.90.