Mogrify and Astellas link up on regenerative medicine approaches in sensorineural hearing loss

Privately-held UK-based company Mogrify and Japanese drugmaker Astellas (TYO: 4503) have signed a collaborative research agreement on in vivo regenerative medicine approaches to address sensorineural hearing loss.

Using Mogrify’s proprietary direct cellular reprogramming platform, the collaboration will seek to identify novel combinations of transcription factors involved in cell differentiation to generate new cochlear hair cells.

As part of the collaboration, Astellas Gene Therapies, a division of the Tokyo-based firm, is covering the research cost of the work as well as contributing its expertise in adeno-associated virus (AAV) based genetic medicine and translational capabilities to complete experiments in pre-clinical models.