AVROBIO To Sell Cystinosis Gene Therapy To Novartis For $87.5 Mln; AVRO Stock Surge In Pre-Market

(RTTNews) - AVROBIO, Inc. (AVRO), a company focused on gene therapy, on Monday announced a deal to sell its investigational hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy program for the treatment of cystinosis, to Novartis AG (NVS) for $87.5 million in cash.

Following the news, AVRO was trading up by 75.46 percent at $1.36 per share in the pre-market trading on the Nasdaq.

Erik Ostrowski, AVROBIO's Interim CEO and current CFO, said: "This transaction strengthens AVROBIO's balance sheet, focuses our pipeline strategy and is a strong endorsement of our HSC gene therapy approach and plato gene therapy platform…"

Proceeds from this transaction are expected to extend the AVROBIO's cash runway into the fourth quarter of 2024.

In addition, AVROBIO retains full rights to its portfolio of first-in-class HSC gene therapies for Gaucher disease type 1 and type 3, Hunter syndrome, and Pompe disease.