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ViGeneron has worked on this program together with Daiichi Sankyo since early 2021.This follow-on collaboration allows the companies to create and validate vgAAV-based therapeutic candidates for the undisclosed target through in-vivo animal studies.

Through a unique and stringent in vivo selection procedure, where an AAV2-based peptide-display library was intravenously administered in mouse models followed by isolation of vector DNA from target cells after only 24 hours, ViGeneron’s two novel vgAAV vectors termed vgAAV.GL and vgAAV.NN were identified and characterized. These novel vgAAV vectors mediate a widespread and high-level retinal transduction after intravitreal injection in a wide range of preclinical models and efficiently transduce photoreceptors in human retinal explant cultures.

“Based on our partnership and findings, to date, we look forward to a successful follow-on collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo and potentially to developing a new sustained therapy that will address a dire need for many patients suffering from prevalent eye diseases,” commented Dr. Caroline Man Xu, Co-founder and CEO of ViGeneron. “Furthermore, the advancement of our research agreement exemplifies the potential of our intravitreally injected vgAAV vectors for large and commercially significant disease areas.”