Biogen Inc. and Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., recently announced that Biogen exercised its option to obtain from Ionis a worldwide, exclusive, royalty-bearing license to develop and commercialize BIIB115/ION306. The companies have a broad strategic collaboration to develop novel therapies to treat neurological disorders.
“Combining Biogen’s expertise in neurology with Ionis’ leadership in antisense technology has led to SPINRAZA® (nusinersen) being a foundation of care in SMA,” said Toby Ferguson, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President and Head of the Neuromuscular Development Unit at Biogen. “But unmet needs still remain for people impacted by SMA. We are excited to continue to pursue innovative treatments, such as BIIB115, that may have the potential to make a meaningful impact for patients in the SMA community.”
BIIB115 is an investigational antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) in development for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) that may have the potential to help address additional unmet needs of patients as well as to be administered at extended dosing intervals. BIIB115 is designed to target a root cause of SMA by increasing the production of functional SMN protein. Biogen plans to advance BIIB115 to clinical trials to investigate safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy.