Pharmaceutical firm Allergan acquired the assets of RetroSense Therapeutics, a biotechnology spinout of Wayne State University backed by diagnostics company Nerveda, yesterday in a $60m all-cash deal.
Allergan could add regulatory and commercialisation milestone payments linked to RetroSense’s lead candidate, a gene therapy called RST-001 that is targeting a degenerative eye disease known as retinitis pigmentosa.
Founded in 2009, RetroSense is working on gene therapies to restore vision in patients suffering from blindness. The company exploits an approach known as optogenetics, which creates light sensitivity in cells which did not previously have that feature.
RetroSense launched a phase 1/2a clinical trial for RST-001 in March 2016. The technology is based on research conducted at Wayne State and Massachusetts General Hospital led by Zhuo-Hua Pan, professor at the university’s medical school.
The company raised $6m in a November 2015 series B round backed by pharmaceutical firm Santen Pharmaceutical, BlueWater Angels, RBV Capital and ExSight Capital.
Nerveda, BlueWater, SDL Ventures, Tech Coast Angels, and public-private partnership Michigan Economic Development Corporation had previously funded a $6m series A round in January 2015. Unnamed investors had provided $75,000 in seed funding in 2011.
Brent Saunders, CEO and president of Allergan, said: “The acquisition of RetroSense and its RST-001 program builds on Allergan’s deep commitment to eye care, and our focus on investing in game-changing innovation for retinal conditions, including retinitis pigmentosa, where patients desperately need treatment options.”
– A version of this article originally appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing