Release Details

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 15, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VYGR), a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing life-changing treatments for severe diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), today announced a co-exclusive worldwide license agreement with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) related to novel adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids.  The license agreement covers all fields of use and includes novel AAV capsids that have demonstrated enhanced blood-brain barrier penetration for the potential treatment of CNS diseases following systemic administration of an AAV gene therapy vector. 

Under the agreement, Voyager agreed to purchase co-exclusive rights to the novel AAV capsids, intellectual property and related technology. Voyager will further compensate Caltech upon achievement of certain development and regulatory milestones and share royalties upon the potential commercial launch of products utilizing the capsids included in the agreement.  

“The agreement announced today with Caltech expands Voyager’s portfolio of AAV capsids to include novel capsids with enhanced blood-brain barrier penetration and CNS targeting,” said Dinah Sah, Ph.D., senior vice president of neuroscience at Voyager Therapeutics.  “We are excited to be able to partner with Dr. Ben Deverman and Professor Viviana Gradinaru at Caltech to continue to advance this technology which, in preclinical studies, generated AAV variants that broadly transduced the CNS with enhanced efficiency after intravenous injection.”
           
About Voyager Therapeutics

Voyager Therapeutics is a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing life-changing treatments for severe diseases of the CNS.  Voyager is committed to advancing the field of AAV (adeno-associated virus) gene therapy through innovation and investment in vector engineering and optimization, manufacturing and dosing and delivery techniques.  The Company’s pipeline is focused on severe CNS diseases in need of effective new therapies, including advanced Parkinson’s disease, a monogenic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Friedreich’s ataxia, Huntington’s disease, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and severe, chronic pain.  Voyager has broad strategic collaborations with Sanofi Genzyme, the specialty care global business unit of Sanofi, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School.  Founded by scientific and clinical leaders in the fields of AAV gene therapy, expressed RNA interference and neuroscience, Voyager Therapeutics is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  For more information, please visit www.voyagertherapeutics.com.  Follow Voyager on LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements for the purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities law. The use of words such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “project,” “intend,” “future,” “potential,” or “continue,” and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.  For example, all statements Voyager makes regarding the initiation, timing, progress and reporting of results of its preclinical programs and clinical trials and its research and development programs, its ability to advance its AAV-based gene therapies into, and successfully complete, clinical trials, its ability to continue to develop its product engine, its ability to add new programs to its pipeline, its expected cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at the end of the fiscal year and anticipation for how long expected cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities will last, and the timing or likelihood of its regulatory filings and approvals, are forward looking.  All forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions by Voyager’s management that, although Voyager believes to be reasonable, are inherently uncertain.  All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that Voyager expected.  These statements are also subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties that are described in Voyager’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated by its future filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made.  Voyager undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Investor Relations:
Matt Osborne
Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
857-259-5353
mosborne@vygr.com

Media:
Katie EnglemanPure Communications, Inc.
910-509-3977
Katie@purecommunicationsinc.com