VANCOUVER—Privately held biotechnology company enGene announced it has acquired a license to a non-viral gene integration technology from Burlingame, Calif.-based Poetic Genetics. The technology will support enGene's proprietary GEMS (Gut Endocrine-cell Modification System) gene delivery platform.
Under the terms of the agreement, enGene gains exclusive worldwide rights to Poetic's technology, which allows therapeutic genes to be integrated into intestinal cells in vivo, facilitating sustained production of drugs within the body. In exchange, Poetic will receive milestone payments in the form of equity in the Canadian company, cash payments and royalties from commercial sales.
enGene also announced the initiation of a US$15 million Series A financing round to support the preclinical and clinical development of its GEMS-Insulin. "The timing is right for us to attract institutional investors given the breadth of our platform technology, the importance of the change to non-viral delivery, and the reasonable timeframe for achieving preliminary human efficacy data in the GEMS-Insulin program," said Eric Adams, enGene president and CEO.
