Analysts at Oppenheimer hailed the deal Axovant Sciences Ltd (NASDAQ:AXON) signed Wednesday with Oxford BioMedica PLC (LON:OXB) to commercialize its gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease.
News of the exclusive worldwide licensing agreement pushed Axovant shares up over 27% to US$5.78 Thursday morning.
Oxford BioMedica, one of Britain’s oldest biotech companies, concluded a $842.5m deal with Axovant Sciences to commercialize its gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease.
Called AXO-Lenti-PD, Axovant’s new project uses a harmless virus to deliver three genes key to the production of dopamine and thereby relieve the neurodegeneration that characterizes Parkinson’s. The company plans to start its first clinical trial this year.
READ: Oxford BioMedica shares jump as it enters licensing agreement for Parkinson’s treatment
“AXON licensed worldwide rights to AXO-Lenti-PD which effectively transforms the company's pipeline from small molecule therapeutics to gene therapy,” wrote Oppenheimer analysts Jay Olson and Silvan Tuerkcan.
“AXO-Lenti-PD is an experimental gene therapy that builds on the earlier success of ProSavin which demonstrated nominal efficacy with long-term safety in an ongoing 15-patient Ph2 study. AXO-Lenti-PD is a next-generation lentiviral vector that improves upon the efficacy of ProSavin while overcoming some of the barriers including dosing constraints imposed by the volume of administration.”
Axovant expects to initiate a Phase I/II dose escalation study of AXO-Lenti-PD in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease by the end of 2018.
The analysts said they were “encouraged by the rapid progress” of new CEO Pavan Cheruvu as he “quickly implements his vision for a new” biotech that is focused on transformational science.
“We look forward to additional business development, which we expect by year-end, and meanwhile maintain our Perform rating,” wrote the analysts.
The Financial Times reported that Oxford BioMedica will receive a US$30mln upfront payment under the agreement with Axovant Sciences. The company, spun out of Oxford university in 1995, is “eligible to receive US$812m” if it achieves specified development, regulatory and sales milestones, “receiving 7-10 per cent royalties on sales of the Parkinson’s product.”