Avrobio Stock Jumps On Sale Of Gene Therapy Program To Novartis

Shares of clinical-stage gene therapy company AVROBIO, Inc. AVRO are trading higher Monday due to its agreement to sell its investigational hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) gene therapy program for the treatment of cystinosis to Novartis AG NVS.

The Details: Avrobio agreed to sell the program to Novartis for $87.5 million in cash. The gene therapy company will retain full rights to its portfolio of first-in-class HSC gene therapies for Gaucher disease type 1 and type 3, Hunter syndrome and Pompe disease.

Proceeds are projected to extend Avrobio's cash runway into the fourth quarter, as well as focus the company's pipeline strategy and lend support to its HSC gene therapy approach and plato gene therapy platform, according to Erik Ostrowski, Avrobio's interim CEO and current CFO.

Avrobio has also exclusively licensed certain assets and other intellectual property to Novartis. The company agreed to provide certain transition and knowledge transfer services under a separate agreement.

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AVRO Price Action: Avrobio shares were up 68.9% at $1.31 at the time of writing, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Konstantin Kolosov from Pixabay.