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Investors offloaded shares of Sangamo Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SGMO) ahead of the market opening on Tuesday, following the recent decision by Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) to terminate their co-development agreement concerning hemophilia A gene therapy.
Early trading indicated a significant decline, with Sangamo’s stock plummeting by 50.85 percent to $1.08 per share as of 8:53 AM. This decline followed a previous day’s drop of 8.59 percent, closing at $2.34.
With Pfizer ending the partnership, Sangamo has regained rights to develop giroctocogene fitelparvovec, an investigational gene therapy candidate aimed at treating adults with moderately severe to severe hemophilia A. The company has expressed its intention to explore various avenues for advancing this program, including the search for a new collaboration partner.
Sangamo’s Chief Executive Officer, Sandy Macrae, expressed disappointment over Pfizer’s decision, especially given the promising results from the Phase 3 AFFINE trial that demonstrated the therapy’s potential as a transformative treatment for hemophilia A. He emphasized the company’s commitment to navigating the best path forward for the therapy, including identifying a partner that understands the complexities of the genomic medicine market.
Macrae also highlighted that despite the challenges presented by the shift in partnership dynamics, Sangamo remains focused on pushing forward its wholly owned neurology genomic medicine pipeline and hopes to progress its Fabry gene therapy program toward a Biologics License Application (BLA) submission in the latter half of 2025.
The termination of the collaboration agreement with Pfizer is set to take effect on April 21, 2025, necessitating a seamless transition of the giroctocogene fitelparvovec program back to Sangamo. During this transition, the company assured that all trial participants would continue to be monitored as planned.
Sangamo remains optimistic about its recent partnerships with Genentech and Astellas, viewing these collaborations as crucial for advancing its Fabry gene therapy program and overall strategy within its neurology genomic medicine pipeline.
Source
finance.yahoo.com