NEW YORK – Blue Gen Therapeutics Foundation (BGTF) on Thursday said it has secured an exclusive worldwide license for two gene therapy programs from Redwood City, California-based Adverum Biotechnologies.
Sacramento, California-based BGTF, a nonprofit focused on advancing gene therapies for rare and inherited retinal diseases, now has the rights to ADVM-062 and ADVM-082, two intravitreally administered gene therapies that are delivered with Adverum's proprietary adeno-associated virus vector capsid.
ADVM-062 is a gene therapy that encodes a functional copy of long-wavelength sensitive opsin as a treatment for blue cone monochromacy, a retinopathy caused by mutations in the OPN1LW and OPN1MW genes that encode for long- and middle-wavelength sensitive cone opsins. ADVM-062, a preclinical gene therapy candidate, has already garnered orphan drug designation from the US Food and Drug Administration.
ADVM-082 is being developed as a treatment for achromatopsia, a vision disorder that affects a patient's ability to see color and that can be caused by mutations in several genes, such as CNGB3. ADVM-082 encodes a functional copy of the CNGB3 gene.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.