Development assets are sourced from an external research network and developed to achieve preclinical/clinical proof of concept. After that, the ambition is for the projects to be co-developed and commercialized through strategic partnerships.
CombiGene is a virtual company and conducts research and development by utilizing Contract Research Organizations (CRO´s) or in academic collaborations. All managed by CombiGene´s skilled and qualified staff. The advantages with this type of collaboration are apparent for both parties. CombiGene is able to gain access to leading research from academia as well as industry without having to incur costs for resource-intensive research. In turn, the external researchers gain access to CombiGene’s considerable expertise in pharmaceuticals development and project management, and financial resources to enable preclinical and clinical development.
CombiGene has a team of very knowledgeable and experienced professionals, as well as solid, longstanding experience from the international pharma industry and the biotech arena, together with a thorough knowledge of different aspects of gene therapy. This combination of experience and expertise allows CombiGene, together with a network of selected external partners who complement CombiGene’s internal expertise, to conduct ground-breaking gene-therapeutic development very effectively.
To use the company’s resources as effectively as possible CombiGene seeks to develop manufacturing methods and conduct preclinical/clinical studies in collaboration with leading external partners in the respective areas. In this way CombiGene is able to choose the most suitable partner and thereby drive the projects as effectively and successfully as possible.
Under its own management, CombiGene’s ambition is to take its candidate drugs through preclinical development up to initial studies in humans. Candidate drugs will be commercialized through strategic partnerships and CombiGene is making extensive partnering efforts in order to build long-term relations with interesting international pharmaceutical companies.
CombiGene originated in the 1990s, when the company’s scientific founders, Professor Merab Kokaia and Associate Professor David Woldbye, demonstrated that neuropeptide Y (NPY) inhibits epileptic seizures in animals and that this positive effect is further strengthened by the NPY receptor Y2.
The great challenge at that time was that there was no adequate means of applying this knowledge to create an effective treatment, since there was no way of administering the intended treatment to humans.
The discovery that a safe, non-pathogenic virus whose own DNA was largely removed and replaced with functional DNA sequences (so-called AAV vectors) can be used to “transport” gene-therapeutic drugs immediately presented entirely new possibilities for Professor Kokaia and Associate Professor Woldbye.
On 25 May 2015 CombiGene was listed as a public company on SPOTLIGHT Stock Market (then AktieTorget). The listing generated SEK 12.5 million in research capital which in 2016 enabled CombiGene to test and identify the final candidate drug, named CG01.
During 2017 and 2018 CombiGene carried out several preclinical studies with CG01. All studies confirmed the anti-epileptic effects of CG01 and during 2018 CombiGene began extensive preparations for clinical studies, i.e., human trials.
CombiGene is currently conducting two gene therapy development projects and one peptide project: the pain program COZY consists of one peptide treatment and one gene therapy, which both are based on the same unique mechanism of action; and the epilepsy project CG01 is developed for the treatment of drug-resistant focal epilepsy. In October 2021, the epilepsy project CG01 was outlicensed to Spark Therapeutics. On October 14, 2023, CombiGene announced that Spark Therapeutics, as a result of a strategic decision, had decided to terminate the collaboration agreement for the epilepsy project. CombiGene thus have regained the global rights for the project.
Since the company was founded, CombiGene has amassed a knowledge of gene therapy and a network that is unique among Nordic companies. This knowledge covers aspects that are decisive for the successful development of gene therapeutic drugs; for example, selection of viral vectors, methodology development for GMP-classed production of gene-therapeutic substances (which is considerably more complicated than production of conventional drugs) and the regulatory issues surrounding gene therapy. Concurrently, the company has established a broad international contact network within the global pharmaceutical industry.
Gene therapy is one of the most exciting areas of development in the pharma industry, thanks to the unique possibilities for precisely targeted therapy and the potential for meeting very great medical needs.
Unlike conventional drug treatment of chronic diseases, which requires continuous medication, gene therapy has the great advantage of being able to achieve a long-term effect after just one or a few treatments. Significant advances in gene therapy have been made in the past 5-10 years and there is considerable interest in this technology among the major pharmaceutical companies, as evidenced by, among other things, the large number of acquisitions during recent years. Considering the many advantages of gene therapy, and the many research and development projects now under way throughout the world, one can assume that the number of approved gene therapy products will continue to grow dramatically over the coming years. A large number of patients whose diseases cannot be adequately treated can thereby enjoy significantly better lives, thanks to the new therapies.