Why This New Collaboration Is Incredible for Voyager Therapeutics
Voyager Therapeutics shares made an incredible gain on Friday after the firm announced a collaboration with pharma giant AbbVie.
On Friday, Voyager Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: VYGR) announced a collaboration with pharma giant AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV | ABBV Price Prediction) to develop and commercialize vectorized antibodies directed at pathological species of alpha-synuclein for the potential treatment of Parkinson’s disease and other diseases (synucleinopathies) characterized by the abnormal accumulation of misfolded alpha-synuclein protein.
Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. A hallmark of Parkinson’s disease is the accumulation of misfolded alpha-synuclein that eventually can lead to the formation of protein deposits and progressive neurodegeneration.
The delivery of sufficient quantities of antibodies across the blood-brain barrier is one of the major limitations of current biologic therapies for neurodegenerative diseases that require frequent systemic injections with large amounts of antibodies.
AbbVie will be looking to use Voyager’s vectorized antibody platform and approach to circumvent this limitation by delivering the genes that encode for the production of therapeutic antibodies utilizing Voyager’s blood-brain barrier penetrant adeno-associated virus capsids. This approach could result in the potential for higher levels of therapeutic antibodies in the brain compared with current systemic administration of antibodies.
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Jim Summers, Ph.D., vice president of discovery neuroscience research at AbbVie, commented:
The expansion of AbbVie’s partnership with Voyager represents the potential we see in the ability of its vectorized antibody platform to surpass the blood-brain barrier and more effectively deliver biologic therapies. We are hopeful that Voyager’s technology will enable further development of transformative treatments for patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
Shares of Voyager were last seen up 27% at $13.58, in a 52-week range of $7.76 to $31.91. The stock has a consensus price target of $24.64.
AbbVie traded at $78.76 a share. The 52-week trading range is $75.77 to $122.00, and the consensus analyst target is $92.18.
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Chris Lange is a financial and geopolitical writer with more than a decade of experience covering a myriad of topics. He has published thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St., with past coverage focused heavily on stocks, IPOs, healthcare, defense, global affairs, and technology.
His work has been quoted, or referenced by a number of outlets including Business Insider, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, MSN, The Motley Fool, and many other publications. A graduate of Southwestern University, he studied business with a focus on investments and has previous experience in banking and startups.
When not reading or writing the news, he is following his passion for Lacrosse, playing chess, or building solar projects with his dad.
