GeneQuine and Panion Eyeing License Deal for Osteoarthritis Gene Therapy in Horses and Dogs

GeneQuine Biotherapeutics GmbH and Panion Animal Health AB have signed a Letter of Intent to facilitate discussions regarding a potential license for GeneQuine’s gene therapy technology to treat osteoarthritis in horses and dogs.

Osteoarthritis is one of the largest medical and economical issues in horses and dogs with a market volume of several hundreds of millions of dollars in each of the species. While there are several symptomatic drugs available, there is no proven disease-modifying drug on the market that could positively affect progressive cartilage degradation, which forms the basis of the disease.

GeneQuine is leveraging gene therapy technology to develop sustained, local treatments for osteoarthritis in animals and humans. In small and large animal osteoarthritis models (including horses), GeneQuine has successfully demonstrated that the lead candidate has symptomatic as well as disease-modifying efficacy.

Panion’s mission is to develop and commercialize treatments for chronic diseases in animals. Panion has previously in-licensed a gene therapy approach to treat epilepsy in dogs and is looking to expand their portfolio with drug candidates for other chronic disorders with high unmet medical need and large market potential.

Both companies share the vision that gene therapy has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of several chronic diseases. This may be particularly true for pets (including horses) since a single-injection treatment would dramatically improve pet/pet owner compliance and lower treatment costs compared to conventional drugs that require frequent administration/vet visits.

The companies have now signed a Letter of Intent in order to evaluate and negotiate a license agreement that would give Panion access to GeneQuine’s product candidates for osteoarthritis in animals. Kilian Guse, CEO of GeneQuine, commented: “We believe that gene therapy holds the key to sustained symptomatic and disease-modifying therapy of osteoarthritis. For our veterinary product candidates we are currently looking for development partners with expertise in the animal health sector. We are happy that Panion with their broad experience in the field of veterinary medicine is interested in potentially licensing our technology for animals and are looking forward to working out a license in the upcoming months.” Anja Holm, CEO of Panion says: “GeneQuine’s promising scientific developments and the target disease fit well into Panion’s business strategy and we see great opportunities in this project”.

About GeneQuine Biotherapeutics GmbH

GeneQuine is a Hamburg, Germany-based biotech company developing a novel gene therapy platform. In the lead program, GeneQuine is focused on the development of disease-modifying drugs for osteoarthritis in humans and animals. The technology was originally developed at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA by GeneQuine’s co-founder Kilian Guse and exclusively licensed to GeneQuine.

Contact

Kilian Guse, CEO; kilian.guse@genequine.com

About Panion Animal Health AB

In June 2015 CombiGene formed a wholly owned subsidiary, then called CombiGene Vet AB, and in April 2016 the decision was taken to distribute the subsidiary to CombiGene’s shareholders with the aim of listing the company. The company, which has been renamed Panion Animal Health AB, will use CombiGene’s discoveries to develop a treatment for canine epilepsy. Panion aims at inlicensing or acquiring other veterinary medicine projects or products.