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Syncona Ltd on Monday said it has been informed by Swiss-American pharmaceutical company Novartis AG that the development of eye treatment, GT005, for geographic atrophy secondary to dry age-related macular degeneration will be discontinued. The London-based healthcare investor said the decision will result in a milestone payments write-off of £54.5 million. GT005 was previously the lead asset at the London-based pharmaceutical company, Gyroscope Therapeutics Holdings Ltd, in which Syncona held a 54% stake in. Gyroscope was sold to Novartis in February last year for $1.5 billion, with Syncona receiving cash proceeds of $442 million for its stake. Novartis had been responsible for the development of GT005 since completing the acquisition from Syncona. Novartis’ decision to discontinue GT005 followed a recommendation from the Independent Data Monitoring Committee, which concluded that data from a phase two study ‘did not support continuation of the development programme’. Chief Executive Officer Chris Hollowood said: ‘We are naturally disappointed for patients following the decision to discontinue GT005, but we respect Novartis’ decision. We remain focussed on our strategy of building and maintaining our portfolio of companies providing significant opportunities to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns to our shareholders and to make a difference to the lives of patients with devastating diseases.’ Shares in Syncona were down 2.3% at 125.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning, while Novartis shares were up 0.3% at fr.88.39. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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