Sanofi, a global biopharmaceutical company, has committed to invest up to USD $60 million (GBP £44.5 million) in equity in Gyroscope Therapeutics, a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on diseases of the eye.
Sanofi will invest $40 million in Gyroscope initially, at a premium to Gyroscope’s prior Series C financing, and the remaining $20 million will be invested contingent on a future qualifying investment round and subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions.
“We are thrilled to welcome Sanofi onboard as an investor in Gyroscope. Their investment is a testament to the promise of our science and gene therapy programmes to make a difference for people with serious eye diseases,” said Khurem Farooq, Chief Executive Officer, Gyroscope.
“We believe our lead investigational gene therapy, GT005, has the potential to be the first gene therapy for geographic atrophy, a devastating cause of vision loss for more than 5 million people globally, and were pleased to recently announce additional encouraging data from our ongoing Phase I/II FOCUS clinical trial.”
“Gyroscope’s ambition to develop gene therapies to treat geographic atrophy, a life-altering eye disease that has no approved treatments, aligns with our mission and our focus on pushing frontiers in genomic medicine,” said Christian Mueller, Vice President, Global Head of Genomic Medicine, Sanofi.
“We are excited to be part of the Gyroscope story as they advance their promising investigational gene therapy, GT005, forward in clinical development.”
Under the terms of the agreement, a Sanofi R&D executive will join the Gyroscope Clinical Advisory Board to advise on matters related to the development of GT005 for geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Additionally, Gyroscope has granted Sanofi an exclusive right of first refusal on certain potential future transactions for GT005 in select geographies.
Gyroscope plans to use proceeds from this investment to support funding of ongoing clinical trials of GT005 in GA. GT005 has been granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is being evaluated in Phase II clinical trials.
