AlveoGene sprung out of the work of the U.K. Respiratory Gene Therapy Consortium, a group originally founded in 2001 to find a gene therapy for cystic fibrosis. In the process of developing a viral vector to deliver the cystic fibrosis gene to the lungs, it discovered its lentiviral technology could produce secreted proteins that are key to treating other diseases.
Six scientists from the group formed AlveoGene with funding from Oxford Science Enterprises, the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals and Old College Capital, the venture investment fund of the University of Edinburgh. The new biotech licensed the lentiviral delivery platform developed by the consortium for respiratory diseases with “high unmet need,” outside of cystic fibrosis.
