>>RICHMOND, Calif. and ALAMEDA, Calif., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGMO - News) and Avigen, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVGN - News) announced today that they have established a collaborative research agreement to evaluate potential therapies for chronic pain based on Sangamo's zinc finger DNA binding protein transcription factors (ZFP TFs) and Avigen's adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene delivery system.
The companies believe they can create novel therapies for chronic pain with significantly fewer side effects than with current treatments by combining their gene targeting, regulation and delivery technologies. Sangamo's ZFP TFs bind to specific DNA sequences to regulate gene expression and the subsequent production of proteins. Avigen's AAV gene delivery system is a very effective method for getting DNA into specifically targeted cells.
Under the terms of the agreement, scientists at both companies will investigate potential therapies for neuropathic pain based on the combined technologies. Each company will be responsible for its own expenses, and the companies will share any intellectual property developed.
"Intractable neuropathic pain is a significant medical problem," said Edward Lanphier, Sangamo's president and chief executive officer. "Approximately 50 million Americans are partially or totally disabled by pain. Genes encoding several proteins expressed in nerve cell membranes have been implicated in chronic pain. Sangamo's ZFP TFs can be engineered to recognize specific sequences within those genes and to control the expression of the proteins encoded by those genes."
"We have shown AAV vectors are extremely effective in delivering genes to nerve tissue in our ongoing Parkinson's research," said John Monahan Ph.D., Avigen's president and chief executive officer. "For the treatment of chronic pain, we simply change the payload inside the AAV vector to the appropriate ZFP TF and target relatively easy-to-access locations in the nervous system. AAV has also been shown to be very safe and well tolerated in our animal studies and our current human clinical trial for the treatment of hemophilia B. Avigen's proprietary manufacturing process eliminates all of the original viral genes in AAV vectors, thus minimizing potential immune responses and eliminating the virus' ability to reproduce."
"Current treatments for chronic pain are limited and can have significant side effects," Lanphier continued. "We believe the specificity of our ZFP TF technology to control individual genes, combined with Avigen's ability to target AAV gene delivery specifically to neuronal tissue, has the potential to allow us to develop a novel approach to pain control with far fewer side effects than traditional methods."
"The scientists at Sangamo and Avigen are at the forefront of the development of effective gene therapy. We are looking forward to working together and believe that the combination of our technologies has the potential to enable us to develop a novel solution to this difficult problem and may yield effective products to fulfill this unmet medical need," Monahan concluded.<<
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