Allergan and Editas Medicine ally on eye disease research

Allergan has announced a new collaboration with Editas Medicine that aims to develop innovative new eye disease therapies.

The strategic research and development alliance will see Allergan receive exclusive access and the option to license up to five of Editas Medicine's genome-editing ocular programmes, which leverage the latter company's CRISPR genome editing platform.

This agreement includes Editas' lead programme for leber congenital amaurosis (LCA10), which is currently in preclinical development. LCA10 is a rare, inherited retinal degenerative disease that appears in childhood and leads to blindness.

CRISPR technology is considered to be highly promising and versatile, allowing specific stretches of genetic code to be targeted and DNA edited at precise locations in the genome. This allows researchers to permanently modify genes, allowing medicines to be created with a durable treatment effect.

David Nicholson, chief research and development officer at Allergan, said: "The Allergan team is excited to work with colleagues at Editas Medicine to develop and potentially deliver game-changing treatment for retinal diseases like LCA10."

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