Novartis Pharma AG and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation completed the acquisition of Cystinosis Gene Therapy Program from AVROBIO, Inc..
June 08, 2023
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Novartis Pharma AG and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement to acquire Cystinosis Gene Therapy Program from AVROBIO, Inc. (NasdaqGS:AVRO) for $87.5 million on May 19, 2023. The asset includes AVROBIO's cystinosis gene therapy program and all other assets of the Company specifically related to this program. In addition, pursuant to the Asset Purchase Agreement, AVROBIO has granted an exclusive license to Novartis Pharma AG and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation to use the certain intellectual property of AVROBIO, which consists of certain proprietary elements of the AVROBIO's plato® gene therapy platform technology specifically within the field of cystinosis.
The transaction is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions, including a requirement to obtain third party consents from certain of the Company?s key suppliers and licensors, and a requirement to terminate any liens, including those imposed under the Company?s Loan and Security Agreement (the ? Term Loan Facility ?), dated as of November 2, 2021, with Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First-Citizens Bank & Trust and the other parties thereto. Completion of the Asset Sale is anticipated by the end of the third quarter of 2023. AVROBIO intends to utilize a portion of the proceeds it receives upon closing of the transaction to pay off its then-current outstanding balance under the Term Loan Facility which, together with interest and fees, is expected to be approximately $16.4 million. Proceeds from the transaction, following payoff of the Term Loan Facility, along with the AVROBIO's current cash and cash equivalents, are expected to enable the Company to fund its operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into the fourth quarter of 2024. Cowen Inc. and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC are acting as financial advisors to AVROBIO in the transaction.
Novartis Pharma AG and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation completed the acquisition of Cystinosis Gene Therapy Program from AVROBIO, Inc. (NasdaqGS:AVRO) on June 9, 2023.
AVROBIO, Inc. is a gene therapy company. The Company is focused on developing potentially curative hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) gene therapies to treat patients with rare diseases following a single dose treatment regimen. The gene therapies that the Company is engaged in developing employ HSCs that are harvested from the patient and then modified with a lentiviral vector to insert the equivalent of a functional copy of the gene that is mutated in the target disease. The Company's development focus has been on a group of rare genetic diseases referred to as lysosomal disorders, primarily managed with enzyme replacement therapies (ERTs). Its pipeline is comprised of three HSC gene therapy programs, which include AVR-RD-02 for the treatment of Gaucher disease type 1 and type 3; AVR-RD-03 for the treatment of Pompe disease, and AVR-RD-01 for the treatment of Fabry disease.