The first is the acquisition of Belgium-based gene therapy company Handl Therapeutics for an undisclosed sum. Handl Therapeutics is focused on creating disease modifying in vivo gene therapies to treat neurodegenerative disease through proprietary adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsid technology.

The Leuven-based company combines technology platforms and scientific advances licensed from research university KU Leuven, the Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA) of the University of Navarra in Spain, the University of Chile and King’s College London.

The second move is a research and development collaboration with US company Lacerta Therapeutics. A spin-off from the University of Florida, Lacerta’s mission is to make AAV-therapies available for all patients with rare and serious neurological disorders.

UCB said the focus of their agreement is to develop AAV-based therapies for central nervous system (CNS) diseases with high unmet need.

Lacerta will lead research, preclinical activities and early manufacturing process development, while UCB will complete investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies, manufacturing and clinical development.

“The acquisition of Handl Therapeutics and the new partnership with Lacerta Therapeutics offers us the potential to drive a fundamental change in how diseases are treated, by moving us from treating symptoms to disease modification and eventually towards a cure,” said UCB’s chief scientific offer Dhavalkumar Patel.

Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist