AVROBIO Granted ILAP Designation from U.K. MHRA for First-in-Class Gene Therapy for Gaucher Disease

ILAP intended to accelerate regulatory review process and facilitate patient access in U.K. for seriously debilitating and life-threatening diseases

AVR-RD-02 has previously received Fast Track status from U.S. FDA and orphan drug designation in the U.S. and EU

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–$AVRO—AVROBIO, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVRO), a leading clinical-stage gene therapy company working to free people from a lifetime of genetic disease, today announced that the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has granted an Innovation Passport under the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP) to investigational AVR-RD-02, a first-in-class gene therapy that uses patients’ own hematopoietic stem cells to treat Gaucher disease, a rare lysosomal disorder that can lead multiorgan pathology, clinical morbidity and early mortality.

The Innovation Passport is the first step in the ILAP process, triggering the MHRA and its partner agencies, including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) and National Health Service (NHS) England, to chart a roadmap for regulatory and development milestones with the goal of early patient access in the U.K.

AVROBIO’s Gaucher disease program includes Gaucher disease type 1 and type 3, which collectively impact an estimated 30,000 patients worldwide. The company expects to provide an interim clinical data update for its Phase 1/2 Gaucher disease type 1 clinical trial, as well as an outline of the development and regulatory strategy for its Gaucher disease type 3 program, in Q4 2022.

About ILAP

The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) launched ILAP at the start of 2021 in order to accelerate the development and access to promising medicines in the early stages of development. The pathway, part of the UK’s plan to attract life sciences development in the post-Brexit era, features enhanced input and interactions with MHRA and other stakeholders. Other benefits of ILAP include access to a range of development tools, such as the potential for a 150-day accelerated Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) assessment, rolling review and a continuous benefit risk assessment. More information about ILAP can be found here.

About Gaucher disease

Gaucher disease is a rare, inherited lysosomal disorder characterized by the toxic accumulation of glucosylceramide (GlcCer) and glucosylsphingosine (GlcSph) in macrophages. Macrophages enlarged with these fatty substances are called Gaucher cells which amass primarily in the spleen, liver and bone marrow. This results in a variety of potential symptoms, including grossly enlarged liver and spleen, bone issues, fatigue, low hemoglobin levels and platelet counts and an adjusted lifetime relative risk of developing Parkinson’s disease that may be more than 20 times greater than the general population. Even on enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) – the current standard of care – people with Gaucher disease typically have a shortened life expectancy and may experience debilitating symptoms that significantly reduce their quality of life.

About AVROBIO

Our vision is to bring personalized gene therapy to the world. We target the root cause of genetic disease by introducing a functional copy of the affected gene into patients’ own hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), with the goal to durably express the therapeutic protein throughout the body, including the central nervous system. Our first-in-class pipeline includes clinical programs for cystinosis and Gaucher disease type 1, as well as preclinical programs for Gaucher disease type 3, Hunter syndrome and Pompe disease. Our proprietary plato® gene therapy platform is designed to be scaled to support late-stage clinical development and commercialization globally. We are headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. For additional information, visit avrobio.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by words and phrases such as “aims,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “designed to,” “estimates,” “expects,” “forecasts,” “goal,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “possible,” “potential,” “seeks,” “will,” and variations of these words and phrases or similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding our business strategy for and the potential therapeutic benefits of our preclinical and clinical product candidates, including AVR-RD-02 for the treatment of Gaucher disease, the potential benefits and incentives provided by MHRA’s ILAP designation for AVR-RD-02, the design, commencement, enrollment and timing of planned clinical trials, preclinical or clinical trial results, product approvals and regulatory pathways, our plans and expectations with respect to interactions with regulatory agencies, anticipated benefits of our gene therapy platform including potential impact on our commercialization activities, timing and likelihood of success, the expected benefits and results of our implementation of the plato® platform in our clinical trials and gene therapy programs, and the expected safety profile of our preclinical and investigational gene therapies. Any such statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Results in preclinical or early-stage clinical trials may not be indicative of results from later stage or larger scale clinical trials and do not ensure regulatory approval. You should not place undue reliance on these statements, or the scientific data presented.

Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on AVROBIO’s current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry as well as management’s current beliefs and expectations of future events only as of today and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk that any one or more of AVROBIO’s product candidates will not be successfully developed or commercialized, the risk of cessation or delay of any ongoing or planned clinical trials of AVROBIO or our collaborators, the risk that AVROBIO may not successfully recruit or enroll a sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials, the risk that AVROBIO may not realize the intended benefits of our gene therapy platform, including the features of our plato® platform, the risk that our product candidates or procedures in connection with the administration thereof will not have the safety or efficacy profile that we anticipate, the risk that prior results, such as signals of safety, activity or durability of effect, observed from preclinical or clinical trials, will not be replicated or will not continue in ongoing or future studies or trials involving AVROBIO’s product candidates, the risk that we will be unable to obtain and maintain regulatory approval for our product candidates, the risk that the size and growth potential of the market for our product candidates will not materialize as expected, risks associated with our dependence on third-party suppliers and manufacturers, risks regarding the accuracy of our estimates of expenses and future revenue, risks relating to our capital requirements and needs for additional financing, risks relating to clinical trial and business interruptions resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak or similar public health crises, including that such interruptions may materially delay our enrollment and development timelines and/or increase our development costs or that data collection efforts may be impaired or otherwise impacted by such crises, and risks relating to our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our product candidates. For a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause AVROBIO’s actual results to differ materially and adversely from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in AVROBIO’s most recent Quarterly Report, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties and other important factors in AVROBIO’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AVROBIO explicitly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by law.

Contacts

Investors: 

Christopher F. Brinzey 

Westwicke, an ICR Company 

339-970-2843 

[email protected]

Media: 

Kit Rodophele 

Ten Bridge Communications 

617-999-9620 

[email protected]