Biotech companies join forces to treat genetic diseases

Technology
Biotech
EdiGene and Arbor formed an exclusive bio-tech partnership. | National Cancer Institute/Unsplash

Two leading global biotechnology companies focused on gene editing are teaming together to identify and treat the underlying pathology of genetic diseases.

According to a news release, EdiGene, Inc. is a biotechnology company that is focused on translating gene-editing technologies into transformative therapies for patients with genetic diseases and cancer. EdiGene formed an exclusive, worldwide license agreement with Arbor Biotechnologies to access Arbor’s CRISPR gene-editing technology for certain ex-vivo-engineered cell therapy programs in the field of oncology, the release said.

“Partnering with leading engineered cell therapy developers is a key component of Arbor’s strategy to broaden the potential of our CRISPR discovery engine beyond our wholly-owned in-vivo genetic medicine approaches for the benefit of even more patients,” Devyn Smith, chief executive officer of Arbor, said in the release. “We look forward to expanding the global impact of Arbor's proprietary gene-editing technologies through our partnership with EdiGene.”

The financial arrangement calls for EdiGene to pay Arbor contracted “upfront, milestone payments, commercial payments, upon the achievement of certain development and sales milestones, and tiered royalties on net sales of royalty-bearing EdiGene products,” according to the release.

“It has been great working with Arbor’s team in the past year to optimize ways of integrating Arbor’s proprietary CRISPR system into our ex-vivo platforms,” Dong Wei, CEO of EdiGene, said, according to the release. “This partnership will expand EdiGene’s gene-editing toolkit and strengthen our capabilities to advance ongoing ex-vivo gene-editing cell therapy programs for multiple serious diseases. We look forward to collaborating with Arbor to achieve our shared commitment to developing innovative therapies to address unmet medical needs.”

Founded in 2015, EdiGene is headquartered in Beijing, with offices in Guangzhou and Shanghai, China, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.