NEW YORK – Taysha Gene Therapies on Thursday said it is transferring intellectual property related to several gene therapy programs to other organizations under a loan and security agreement, a move aimed at extending its cash runway into 2026.
"Today's announcement demonstrates meaningful progress to advance important development work for several deprioritized programs," Taysha Chairman and CEO Sean Nolan said in a statement. "Creating options for these programs has been a focus since the company completed a management change in December 2022."
Nolan, who in December 2022 chaired Taysha's board of directors, took the helm as CEO, succeeding the company's founder, RA Session II.
Taysha has encountered some rough patches in the past few years. In March 2022, the company announced it was laying off 35 percent of its workforce and narrowing its pipeline to focus on registration-directed gene therapy programs for giant axonal neuropathy and Rett syndrome. At the time, the company said this would extend its cash runway into Q4 2023.
Then, in November 2023, Taysha inked a new loan and security agreement and has since transferred IP for five of its gene therapy programs. The Dallas-based company said it continues to explore partnerships and opportunities for its other deprioritized programs.
Taysha returned the rights for TSHA-104, a SURF1-associated Leigh syndrome gene therapy, and TSHA-112, a gene therapy for adult polyglucosan body disease, to an unnamed originating institution and returned rights for the GM2 gangliosidosis gene therapy TSHA-101 to Queen's University in Canada, which now holds the exclusive IP for the program.
The investigational new drug (IND) application granted by the US Food and Drug Administration and investigational clinical trial materials for the giant axonal neuropathy gene therapy TSHA-120 have been transferred to the US National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a collaborator on the clinical trial. Taysha halted development of TSHA-120 in September. The firm has also provided investigational clinical trial materials for the CLN1 disease gene therapy TSHA-118 to Rush University Medical Center to support an investigator-initiated IND request.
"As we continue to focus on advancing our lead TSHA-102 program for the treatment of Rett syndrome, we are pleased that we can ensure these programs are provided to the right advocates, clinicians, and scientific experts who can potentially move these programs forward for the benefit of patients," Nolan said.