Via Synpromics takeout, AskBio adds promoters to gene therapy platform

With the acquisition of Synpromics, well-funded gene therapy developer AskBio has added synthetic promoter technology to its toolkit as it prepares to begin clinical testing of four candidates by YE20.

The takeout comes about three months after 18-year-old Asklepios BioPharmaceutical Inc. (Chapel Hill, N.C.) -- informally, AskBio -- raised $225 million in a series A round from TPG Capital and Vida Ventures. Launched in 2001, AskBio had been subsisting chiefly on cash from licensing deals or transaction fees on programs sold off to biopharmas (see "AskBio Answers Investors' Call")...