Artificial intelligence company Hologen AI has committed up to $430 million as part of a multifaceted agreement to help take MeiraGTx’s Parkinson’s disease gene therapy all the way to market.
The therapy, dubbed AAV-GAD, delivers a gene that codes for the enzyme that makes the neurotransmitter GABA, which is implicated in the characteristic motor dysfunction of Parkinson’s. A small-scale phase 2 readout last October showed that AAV-GAD was able to improve patients' motor ability and quality of life.
With MeiraGTx eyeing up how to take the drug through phase 3 and onto commercialization, Hologen has stepped in. The AI-focused company is handing over $200 million as an upfront payment, as well as forming a joint venture with MeiraGTx.
Hologen will gift this new entity, to be named Hologen Neuro AI, with up to $230 million in committed capital that will be used to fully fund the development of AAV-GAD all the way to commercialization. Some of the funds will also be used to push forward MeiraGTx’s earlier-stage clinical work, including for genetic obesity.
MeiraGTx will own 30% of the joint venture, while Hologen will contribute its multimodal generative foundation AI models. MeiraGTx is also set to enter into clinical and commercial manufacturing supply agreements with the joint venture.
Based in New York City, MeiraGTx is a genetic medicines specialist with a preclinical and clinical pipeline currently spanning roughly a dozen indications.
MeiraGTx wholly owns its own manufacturing facilities in London, U.K., and Shannon, Ireland, and has an internally developed end-to-end manufacturing process*.* Another part of today’s multifaceted deal will see U.K.-based Hologen own a minority stake in MeiraGTx’s manufacturing subsidiary.
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MeiraGTx's gene therapy improves motor function and quality of life in phase 2 Parkinson's trial
MeiraGTx’s CEO Alexandria Forbes, Ph.D., said Hologen’s AI expertise had already been used to help de-risk the upcoming AAV-GAD phase 3 study by identifying disease-modifying changes in the physiology of the brain among the 14 patients in the recent phase 2 trial.
“Our collaboration with Hologen has broad significance for MeiraGTx and for drug development for neurological disorders in general,” Forbes added. “Deploying Hologen’s [AI models] on MeiraGTx’s clinical data allows the characterization of disease modification in the CNS with unprecedented fidelity.”
MeiraGTx has seen some Big Pharma interest recently, with Sanofi investing $30 million in the biotech last year for a first look at the company's new data from its range of programs in immunology, inflammation, central nervous disorders and metabolic diseases. At around the same time, MeiraGTx presented preclinical findings showing that its gene therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis prevented the loss of motor neurons in rat and mouse models of the disease.
Last month, MeiraGTx revealed that 11 children who were legally blind at birth had all gained visual acuity after receiving another of the biotech’s gene therapies.
MeiraGTx Cell & Gene Therapy Parkinson's disease AI and Machine Learning Deals Biotech