Take­da tak­ing mag­ni­fy­ing glass to non-vi­ral gene ther­a­py pro­grams as Carmine pact ends

Take­da’s work in AAV gene ther­a­py is end­ing, but the Japan­ese phar­ma is al­so tak­ing a clos­er look at its non-vi­ral ap­proach­es to the tough drug R&D space.

The Japan­ese drug­mak­er has end­ed a pact with non-vi­ral-fo­cused Carmine Ther­a­peu­tics, the com­pa­ny’s CEO con­firmed to End­points News. The pair end­ed the agree­ment be­fore the news broke that Take­da would stop ear­ly work on AAV treat­ments.

The small, pri­vate­ly held Cam­bridge, MA, and Sin­ga­pore biotech laid off some staff re­cent­ly and is still work­ing through rais­ing a Se­ries A, which had a first close of around $12 mil­lion last fall, CEO Don Haut said. Haut, for­mer­ly busi­ness chief of Bay­er-ac­quired AskBio, said Take­da and Carmine nev­er put out pub­lic word about the culled deal, which could have meant about $900 mil­lion for the start­up.

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