Key points from article :
Voyager Therapeutics is tripling down on its Alzheimer's disease pipeline with a gene therapy aimed at amyloid-beta plaques.
The company already has two programs in its pipeline targeting tau, the other key protein thought to drive Alzheimer's etiology.
Its new gene therapy is composed of an anti-amyloid beta antibody encoded in a viral vector and delivered in TRACER capsids.
The treatment could be superior to intravenously infused anti-amyloid antibodies because it may be less likely to cause amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA).
Both presence of the APOE4 gene variant that predisposes people to Alzheimer's and the size of the initial dose have been linked to ARIA.
There is “biologic rationale” to suggest that gene therapy wouldn’t confer the same degree of risk, said Todd Carter, Chief Scientific Officer of Voyager.
The company is considering mitigation strategies to handle ARIA if it does arise, including the use of a small molecule to control gene expression.
