Voyager In Deal With Novartis For Target-Specific Access To TRACER AAV Capsids

(RTTNews) - Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. (VYGR), a developer of adeno-associated virus or AAV capsids, announced Tuesday a license option agreement, under which Novartis (NVS) will receive target-specific access to Voyager's novel TRACER AAV capsids for gene therapy programs.

The gene therapy company will receive $54 million upfront from Novartis with potential option exercise fees and milestone payments of up to $1.7 billion plus product sales-based royalties.

In pre-market activity on Nasdaq, Voyager shares were gaining around 14.5 percent to trade at $4.50. Novartis is currently trading down 4.4 percent in Switzerland.

In a statement, Voyager said Novartis may exercise options to license novel AAV capsids generated from Voyager's RNA-driven TRACERTM (Tropism Redirection of AAV by Cell-type-specific Expression of RNA) capsid discovery platform. It is for the potential use with three undisclosed CNS targets and options to access capsids for two additional targets to be agreed on in the future.

Under the deal, Voyager would receive up to $37.5 million in exercise fees for options for three initial CNS targets, exercisable by Novartis within 12 months of signing. Novartis may also elect to evaluate capsids for up to two additional targets to be agreed on in the future, subject to their availability, for $18 million upon selection of each target, and a $12.5 million exercise fee for selection of a capsid for each target.

Voyager is also eligible to earn up to $1.5 billion in potential development, regulatory, and commercial milestones for products utilizing Voyager licensed capsids, as well as mid- to high-single-digit tiered royalties based on net sales of Novartis products incorporating the licensed capsids.

Under the deal terms, Novartis has the right to evaluate novel capsids from Voyager's TRACER platform and to exercise options to license capsids for exclusive use with specific targets in Novartis' development of AAV gene therapies.