Voyager CEO Resigns After Company Turns Back To Discovery-Stage

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  • 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.
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