SIRION Biotech to collaborate with Sanofi on improved AAV capsids

Martinsried, Germany: – Europe’s leading supplier of viral vector technologies, SIRION Biotech, has entered a collaboration with Sanofi to develop Innovative gene therapy treatments using improved Adeno-Associated Virus Capsids for multiple life-threatening disorders.

SIRION Biotech GmbH announced today that it had signed a license and collaboration agreement with French-based global biopharmaceutical company Sanofi to develop improved tissue-selective adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors to realize effective gene therapy treatments for disorders affecting major human organs.

Leading-edge gene delivery

AAV vectors are a promising and clinically validated gene delivery platform for the potential treatment of a variety of human diseases. SIRION Biotech and Sanofi will combine their proprietary technology platforms and partner with Prof. Dirk Grimm, a world-renowned and pioneering scientist in the field of AAV biology and application working at Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany to create next generation AAV vectors.

The goal is to develop new and modified AAV capsids that exhibit a safe product profile with improved specificity and higher gene delivery efficiency.

Improved efficacy

SIRION Biotech CEO and co-founder, Dr. Christian Thirion, commented: “We are delighted to be collaborating with Sanofi, which is an ideal partner with decades-long experience in treating a multitude of disorders and exploring viral vectors as a therapeutic modality.

“AAV vectors with improved efficacy can enable quickly entering into clinical trials with efficient, safe low doses and scalable therapeutic candidates and can expand the impact of gene therapies,” said Dr. Thirion.

Novel treatments 

Dr. Sabine Ott, Senior Vice President BD & Licensing at SIRION added, “We believe that through this exclusive partnership with Sanofi within these large disease fields, AAV-based gene therapies will provide novel treatment options to many millions of patients worldwide suffering from these diseases.”

Sanofi’s global head of genomic medicine, Dr. Christian Mueller, commented: “This partnership adds to our expanding toolbox of technologies in the important, emerging area of gene therapeutics.”

“Leveraging our expertise in virus-based vaccine and viral vector manufacturing together with Prof. Grimm’s cutting-edge AAV capsid evolution technology and SIRION’s expertise and capabilities in AAV vector manufacturing will allow us to better address unmet medical needs and open new frontiers for drug discovery in genomic medicine,” Dr. Mueller concluded.

About SIRION Biotech

SIRION Biotech began its customer business in 2007 in Munich, setting their goal to spark a new generation of viral vector technologies for gene and cell therapy as well as vaccination development. This meant building novel, all-encompassing viral vector platforms for lenti-, adeno-, and adeno-associated viruses which expedite its partners’ advances in drug, cosmetics, and food industries. To date SIRION has completed over 2000 projects of all sizes, working closely with over 200 independent customer groups from academia and industry.

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