Biogen Idec and Sangamo agree haemoglobinopathy alliance

Biogen Idec has entered into a new partnership with Sangamo BioSciences that will focus on the development of new treatments for haemoglobinopathies.

The exclusive worldwide collaboration and license agreement will leverage Sangamo's genome-editing technology platform to develop therapies for sickle cell disease and beta-thalassaemia.

Haemoglobinopathies are inherited conditions that result from the abnormal structure or underproduction of haemoglobin. They are often serious and debilitating conditions, creating a number of harmful symptoms.

Sangamo’s proprietary zinc finger nuclease genome-editing technology facilitates the development of new therapies for these diseases along multiple pathways.

Dr Douglas Williams, Biogen Idec's executive vice-president of research and development, said: "We intend to develop Sangamo's novel gene-editing technology to create a single approach that has the potential to functionally cure both sickle cell disease and beta-thalassaemia."

This comes after the firm announced last month that it will be allying with Samsung Bioepis to commercialise new anti-TNF biosimilar product candidates in Europe.