UCB is beef­ing up its gene ther­a­py ops with back-to-back deals to buy a start­up and sign up a uni­ver­si­ty spin­out for dis­cov­ery work

Bel­gian phar­ma play­er UCB is adding AAV gene ther­a­py pro­grams to the R&D menu through a pair of deals struck in Eu­rope and the US.

The Brus­sels-based com­pa­ny has ac­quired a fledg­ling gene ther­a­py start­up in near­by Leu­ven — Han­dl Ther­a­peu­tics — that was launched by long­time No­var­tis vet Flo­rent Gros, one of two com­pa­nies he’s co-found­ed in the last 2 years. And UCB inked a sep­a­rate re­search deal with Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da spin­out Lac­er­ta.

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