AMT receives €1.1m funding as part of EU consortium grant
For Acute Intermittent Porphyria (AIP) gene therapy
The European Union (EU) has granted €3.3m to the AIPGENE consortium for the development of a gene therapy product for Acute Intermittent Porphyria (AIP).
AIP is a rare genetic disease caused by the inability of the body to produce the heme protein, a component of hemoglobin, as well as other important proteins.
From the grant, made under the EU’s FP7 programme, Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (AMT), a member of consortium, will receive €1.1m.
Amsterdam, Netherlands-based AMT said the funding would cover approximately 75% of its overall development costs to complete a Phase I/II study in humans. AMT holds the commercialisation rights to the AIP gene therapy (AMT-021).
The AIPGENE consortium is led by Fundación para la Investigatión Médica Aplicada (FIMA, Spain) and in addition to AMT includes Clínica Universidad de Navarra (Spain), Stockholms Läns Landsting (Sweden), Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (Germany), Digna Biotech (Spain) and Servicio Madrileño de Salud (Spain).
‘This grant allows us to prioritise the development of our AIP gene therapy programme for this progressive and devastating disease within AMT’s pipeline, as well as initiating the next step in advancing a potentially more effective, long-term treatment for patients,’ said Jörn Aldag, chief executive of AMT.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) granted Orphan Drug Designation to AMT’s gene therapy product for the treatment of AIP in 2008. This entitles AMT to ten years of market exclusivity to treat AIP in Europe following marketing approval, provided that this product candidate is the first such approved new drug with a major medical benefit.