Dive Brief:
- Bayer and Dimension will develop and commercialize a new gene therapy for treatment of hemophilia A based on Dimension’s adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy research.
- Bayer will pay Dimension $20 million upfront with additional milestone payments of up to $232 million.
- Dimension will handle all pre-clinical and early-stage clinical development, while Bayer will provide funding.
Dive Insight:
According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the main treatments for hemophilia A continue to be replacement therapy of factor VIII or recombinant clotting factors. One major problem associated with this therapy, however, is the development of antibodies that occurs in 20 to 30% of patients.
Thomas Beck, CEO of Dimension Therapeutics, said, “Gene therapy offers the potential to transform the treatment of hemophilia by inserting a correct version of the faulty gene responsible for the disease.” Though this is still early in this therapy’s development, the NHLBI notes that there is a great deal of demand for gene-based therapy and a lot of hope that this option will soon become available.