LONDON, UK: London-based healthcare company Syncona Ltd has announced the launch of Beacon Therapeutics Holdings Limited (Beacon Therapeutics), a leading ophthalmic gene therapy company.

The company aims to restore and improve the vision of patients with retinal diseases. The launch was made possible through a £96 million ($134 million) Series A financing round.

Beacon Therapeutics was created by Syncona through the integration of Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation’s (AGTC) late-stage program in X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP) with two other innovative pre-clinical programs.

Syncona holds a value of £60 million ($83 million) in Beacon Therapeutics and has committed a total of £75 million ($104 million) to the company, including the capital invested in acquiring and restructuring AGTC. Currently, Syncona holds a 65.3 percent stake in the business.

The financing round was led by Syncona and included additional investors such as Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE). The funds raised in the Series A financing will be utilized to advance Beacon Therapeutics’ gene therapy candidates, with a focus on progressing AGTC-501, the lead program currently in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of XLRP.

XLRP is an inherited monogenic disorder that leads to progressive vision loss in males. AGTC-501 has shown promising efficacy and a good safety profile in its recent Phase I/II HORIZON trial, and 12-month data from its Phase II SKYLINE trial is expected in the second half of 2023.

Apart from the XLRP program, Beacon Therapeutics possesses two pre-clinical programs that target other retinal diseases. The first program aims to develop an intravitreally delivered gene therapy for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is the leading cause of blindness in people over the age of 60. The second program, in-licensed from the University of Oxford, targets cone-rod dystrophy (CRD), a group of inherited vision loss disorders affecting the retina.

To lead Beacon Therapeutics, David Fellows has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Fellows brings 40 years of experience in ophthalmology, including five years as CEO of Nightstar, another gene therapy company in the field. The management team will also include Dr. Nadia Waheed as Chief Medical Officer (CMO), who is a retinal expert and former CMO of Gyroscope, and Dr. Abraham Scaria as Chief Scientific Officer, an expert in gene therapy.

Syncona Investment Management Limited CEO Chris Hollowood has been appointed as Chair of Beacon Therapeutics, and Elisa Petris, Syncona’s Lead Partner, will join the Board as a Director. Additionally, Professor Robert MacLaren, Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Oxford and Co-Founder of Beacon Therapeutics, will serve as an active advisor on the company’s CRD program and a non-executive director.

Chris Hollowood, CEO of Syncona Investment Management Limited, expressed excitement about the launch of Beacon Therapeutics, highlighting the company’s unique combination of late-stage programs and innovative science. He emphasized Syncona’s commitment to supporting Beacon Therapeutics in developing gene therapies for inherited retinal diseases, leveraging their expertise, track record, and network.

Beacon Therapeutics’ CEO, David Fellows, emphasized the company’s broad development pipeline, scientific foundation, clinical network, and experienced management team. With the upcoming data from the Phase II SKYLINE trial for AGTC-501 and two promising pipeline assets targeting prevalent and rare blinding diseases, Fellows sees Beacon Therapeutics as a new leader in the ophthalmic gene therapy space.

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