AskBio, the world’s foremost clinical stage and gene therapy platform company, has acquired Synpromics, the leader in gene control synthetic promoter technology, bioinformatics and intelligent data-driven design that enables more precise cell targeting and gene expression. Synpromics will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary and remain headquartered in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
“By combining Synpromics’s customized synthetic promoters with AskBio’s capsids and Pro10™ manufacturing cell line, we have achieved technical leadership in each of the critical components for successful development of rAAV-based therapeutics,” said Sheila Mikhail, CEO and co-founder of AskBio. “With the Synpromics acquisition, we have enhanced our collective ability to develop highly targeted and maximally expressed gene therapies. Today AskBio is better positioned to tackle larger pathway diseases, as we continue our efforts to bring curative therapies for rare disease to patients in need.”
AskBio was founded by Jude Samulski, Ph.D., the first scientist to clone Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV), along with Xiao Xiao, Ph.D., who was the first to develop a miniaturized dystrophin gene enabling the advancement of gene therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and Ms. Mikhail, an accomplished life sciences executive. Focused on the development and delivery of curative gene therapies, AskBio’s dynamic AAV technology platform and therapeutics pipeline serve patient populations with rare and generally untreatable genetic diseases. The company’s extensive IP portfolio and manufacturing systems also enable other gene therapy companies such as Pfizer to advance AAV gene therapy for DMD and Avexis for SMA.
