Tarrytown-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals through its wholly owned subsidiary Symphony Acquisition Sub, Inc., is acquiring a Boston company it has been working with for several years. The company is Decibel Therapeutics, with which Regeneron has been collaborating on using gene therapy to combat hearing loss.
Decibel describes itself as being exclusively focused on discovering and developing transformative treatments to restore and improve hearing and balance.
The acquisition price is approximately $109 million and could increase to approximately $213 million if certain milestones regarding clinical development and regulatory requirements are reached.
Laurence E. Reid, president and CEO of Decibel explained, “We have collaborated with our colleagues at Regeneron for the past six years and have huge respect for their research and development capabilities. We have full confidence that with Regeneron”™s expertise and resources the Decibel pipeline can be optimally developed, and our team is committed to enabling that long-term success.”
Reid said that the company is working on “new therapies with the potential to be transformative for people with severe forms of hearing loss.”
Decibel and Regeneron initially started collaborating in 2017 and currently are developing three gene therapy programs to potentially address congenital hearing loss.
George D. Yancopoulos, chief scientific officer and president of Regeneron. said gene therapy for a rare form of congenital hearing loss will soon have its first clinical trial.
“We believe that Decibel”™s assets and specialized team will further strengthen our genetic medicines portfolio, enabling Regeneron to accelerate the development of innovative genetic therapies and a rich pipeline of hearing loss treatments,” Yancopoulos said.
