New spinout to develop gene therapies targeting rare lung diseases

The UK Respiratory Gene Therapy Consortium in 2021. AlveoGene will work on gene therapies for several rare lung conditions, beginning with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Gene therapy has long promised a solution for inherited diseases untreatable with conventional medicine. One challenge that stands in the way is developing a gene transfer agent that will deliver a normal copy of the gene in question to the cells in the body where it is needed, and effectively set it to work. The three universities that make up the UK Respiratory Gene Therapy Consortium (GTC) have developed a gene transfer agent with great promise for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, which has been licensed to the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. Now they have created a startup company that will use the same platform technology to treat other rare lung diseases. After so many years of work, I couldn't be more pleased that one part of our research has been picked up by a big pharmaceutical company, and another has a chance with a spinout.