Sangamo set to earn more than $2.5 billion from licensing deal

After the bell on Thursday US biotech major Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB) and genomic medicines company Sangamo Therapeutics (Nasdaq: SGMO) announced that they have executed a global licensing collaboration agreement, that could be worth over $2.5 billion, with the news sending the latter’s shares almost 40% higher to $9.31 in after-hours trading.

The deal covers the development and commercialization of ST-501 for tauopathies including Alzheimer’s disease, ST-502 for synucleinopathies including Parkinson’s disease, a third undisclosed neuromuscular disease target, and up to nine additional undisclosed neurological disease targets. The companies will leverage Sangamo’s proprietary zinc finger protein (ZFP) technology delivered via adeno-associated virus (AAV) to modulate the expression of key genes involved in neurological diseases.

“As a pioneer in neuroscience, Biogen will collaborate with Sangamo on a new gene regulation therapy approach, working at the DNA level, with the potential to treat challenging neurological diseases of global significance. We aim to develop and advance these programs forward to investigational new drug applications,” said Dr Alfred Sandrock Jr, executive vice president, R&D Biogen.