Voyager CEO Resigns After Company Turns Back To Discovery-Stage

Voyager Therapeutics, Inc VYGR CEO and President Andre Turenne will step down as the beleaguered company announced it would move focus to early, discovery-stage efforts.
The company’s CMO and R&D chief, Omar Khwaja, also stepped down after two years at the biotech.
Voyager said that Turenne would leave to “pursue other opportunities,” and Khwaja found a new opportunity in Europe.
Accordingly, the company is rebranding as a discovery stage biotech, focusing on developing next-generation AAV capsids, TRACER (Tropism Redirection of AAV by Cell-type-specific Expression of RNA).
The next-gen AAVs can more safely and effectively deliver gene therapy than the current generation of AAVs.
The company expects its TRACER technology platform to develop novel gene therapy candidates for serious neurological diseases.
At ASCGT last week, Voyager presented non-human primates data from one of its novel capsids, 9P801, showing that it can cross the blood-brain barrier and reach neurons when administered by IV.
The company also recently announced IND clearance of VY-HTT01, its Huntington’s disease gene therapy candidate. Phase 1/2 trial to start by the end of 2021.
Voyager’s board is now hunting for a new chief, but in the meantime, chairman Michael Higgins will take over CEO duties. Glenn Pierce, a board member and entrepreneur-in-residence at Third Rock, will serve as CMO.
Price Action: VYGR shares are up 1.37% at $4.45 in the premarket session on the last check Thursday.