Kriya snaps up Warden Bio to expand pipeline

Aiming to expand its rare diseases gene therapy portfolio, USA-based Kriya Therapeutics revealed on Friday it has acquired Warden Bio, a company developing novel AAV-mediated gene therapies for glycogen storage disorders (GSDs).

Under the agreement, Kriya has obtained exclusive rights to Warden Bio’s five pre-clinical gene therapy programs for GSDs that have no existing US Food and Drug Administration-approved treatments available. This acquisition serves as the foundation for Kriya’s Rare Disease Division focused on the discovery and development of gene therapies for rare diseases. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

GSDs are a group of rare disorders caused by distinct single enzyme deficiencies involved in the synthesis or breakdown of glycogen. Warden Bio was established with a goal of comprehensively addressing multiple GSDs without approved therapies based on pioneering gene therapy technologies originally developed at Duke University. Currently, approved therapies are only available for one type of GSD, Pompe disease (GSD II).