BioCentury
ARTICLE | Product Development

Abeona tackles gene therapy’s problems in cystic fibrosis with chimeric AAVs

Why Abeona thinks its gene therapy platform will work for cystic fibrosis where others fell short

May 17, 2019 12:00 AM UTC

As it builds up its preclinical pipeline, Abeona is switching gears to create chimeric AAV vectors that it hopes will do a better job than naturally occurring ones of dialing in the right properties for the right indication. A big win would be to finally gain gene therapy a foothold in cystic fibrosis.

On April 30, Abeona Therapeutics Inc. presented data at the American Society for Cell and Gene Therapy meeting in Washington, showing one of the company’s chimeric AAV capsids can deliver a functional copy of the CFTR gene to mouse lungs and can correct chloride ion transport in airway cells from cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. ...