Benzinga | Jan 10, 2022 07:44AM EST

Selecta Biosciences And Ginkgo Bioworks Announce New Collaboration To Develop Next-Generation Gene Therapy Capsids

Selecta Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:SELB), a biotechnology company leveraging its clinically validated ImmTOR(tm) platform to develop tolerogenic therapies that selectively mitigate unwanted immune responses, and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA), the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, today announced a collaboration to develop safer and more effective next-generation gene therapy viral capsids. This partnership leverages the unique platforms of both companies as they seek to develop next-generation viral capsids with improved transduction, enhanced tissue tropism and reduced immunogenicity. Ginkgo plans to design and engineer the capsids and Selecta will conduct all pre-clinical and clinical studies thereafter.

"We are excited to continue our partnership with Ginkgo in a second collaboration that leverages Ginkgo's leading cell engineering platform to design viral vector capsids with the goal of improved transduction, enhanced tissue tropism and reduced immunogenicity," said Carsten Brunn, CEO of Selecta Biosciences. "By combining ImmTOR with next-generation, fit-for-purpose AAV vectors, we hope to further improve the safety and efficacy of AAV-mediated gene therapies."

Jason Kelly, CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks, added, "Gene therapies utilize naturally occurring viral capsids that elicit immune responses and often exhibit safety and toxicity issues. We believe our collaboration with Selecta has the potential to confront major challenges within the gene therapy space and represents an important application of our cell programming platform. We look forward to executing on our shared vision and offering a potential solution for challenges in gene therapies in order to enable treatment for millions of patients."

Under the terms of the collaboration, Ginkgo is eligible to earn upfront research and development fees and milestone payments, including certain milestone payments in the form of Selecta common stock. In addition, Ginkgo is eligible to earn clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone payments of up to $200 million in cash for each of a specified number of products, which have the potential to total, in the aggregate, up to $1.1 billion. Ginkgo is also entitled to potential further downstream value in the form of royalties on sales.