Coave Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing life-changing gene therapies for CNS (Central Nervous System) and eye diseases, and ABL, a pure play contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specialized in the development and manufacturing of viruses for vaccine candidates, gene and cancer therapies, have entered into a collaboration to develop gene therapy manufacturing processes.

Under the two-stage collaboration both companies will initially combine their complementary expertise to co-develop manufacturing technologies for AAV-based gene therapy products. ABL and Coave’s process development teams will work jointly in ABL’s state-of-the-art GMP facility in Lyon, France.

The second stage of the collaboration provides Coave with an exclusive option to secure process development capacity and laboratory space within ABL’s facility. This will enable Coave to further develop and scale-up manufacturing technologies for AAV-based products, including its proprietary next-generation AAV-Ligand Conjugate vectors (ALIGATER) platform. The deal will also strengthen Coave’s ability to generate large-scale and high-quality gene therapy products based on this new generation of advanced AAV vectors.

“Our collaboration with ABL, a best-in-class and complementary partner for Coave, is a major step in our strategy towards the vertical integration of our R&D capacities, which will be crucial in enabling us to control the development and manufacture of our pipeline products in an end-to-end manner,” said Rodolphe Clerval, CEO, Coave Therapeutics. “The manufacturing processes developed through this partnership will be critical on the path to achieving our future clinical and commercial development milestones, in particular for our CNS programs addressing large patient populations.”

Patrick Mahieux, general manager, ABL Europe, said, “We are delighted to join forces with Coave, a fellow French company. This exclusive partnership aims to bring together our knowledge and expertise to co-develop a state-of-the-art manufacturing process for viral vectors used in cell and gene therapies. We are excited to welcome Coave’s team of expert scientists to our facilities in Lyon to jointly accelerate the development of an AAV manufacturing platform. We look forward to a long-term partnership enabling the development and manufacturing of innovative cell and gene therapy treatments in France.”