Voyager Therapeutics enters capsid license agreement, collab with Novartis

Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR) announced a strategic collaboration and capsid license agreement with Novartis Pharma AG, a subsidiary of Novartis AG (NVS) to advance potential gene therapies for Huntington’s disease, HD, and spinal muscular atrophy, SMA. Voyager will provide Novartis a target-exclusive license to access Voyager’s TRACER capsids and other intellectual property for the respective diseases, and Voyager and Novartis will collaborate to advance a preclinical gene therapy candidate for HD. Under the terms of the agreement, Novartis has agreed to pay Voyager $100 million of consideration up front, including a $20 million purchase of newly issued equity in Voyager. Voyager is eligible to receive up to $1.2 billion in preclinical, development, regulatory and sales milestones, as well as tiered royalties on global net sales of products incorporating Voyager’s TRACER capsids. Novartis will obtain target-exclusive access to Voyager’s TRACER capsids related to SMA for the duration of the agreement and will be responsible for all development and commercialization. Novartis will also receive worldwide rights to Voyager’s AAV gene therapy for HD, leveraging Voyager’s TRACER capsids and proprietary payloads.