Novartis is deepening ties with Voyager Therapeutics, agreeing to exercise an option to license tools the biotechnology company has developed to make gene therapies for brain diseases.
The Swiss drugmaker is paying Voyager $25 million for rights to certain uses of the biotech’s novel “capsids,” or viral shells that are used to deliver genetic material into cells. Novartis acquired options to license the capsids, which are meant to reach brain tissue, through an alliance the two companies formed last March. It intends to use them for gene therapy programs aimed at two undisclosed neurologic disease targets.
