ASTELLAS PHARMA PLUNGES INTO GENE THERAPY WITH $3 BILLION AUDENTES ACQUISITION Astellas ( OTCMKTS: ALPMY ) has announced is acquiring Audentes Therapeutics ( NASDAQ: BOLD ) for $3 billion and plunge into the gene therapy market. Based in San Francisco, Audentes is a clinical stage research company centering on development of AAV-based genetic medicines for people with significant and rare neuromuscular diseases. Astellas, based in Tokyo, Japan with a U.S. headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois, is Japan’s second largest pharmaceutical company ( Takeda is ranked #1 ). The product portfolio of Astellas is defined by 4 categories; the addition of Audentes will establish a 5th with the specialty of genetic therapy: -Immuno-Oncology
-Immunotherapy
-Neuro-Muscular
-Regenerative
-Genetic Therapy Audentes' adeno-associated virus ( AAV ) gene therapy technology platform and proprietary production process expertise is applied in programs spanning 3 modalities: -Gene Replacement
-Vectorized Exon Skipping
-Vectorized RNA Knockdown Presently, the leading candidate for approval in the Auduentes portfolio is AT312 which may happen as early as mid-2020. Its clinical trials have generated good results in the treatment of X-linked myotubular myopathy (XLMTM) occurring primarily in male infants. READ MORE about how Astellas and Audentes will compete with blue chip pharmaceutical manufacturers like Roche, Pfizer and Novartis in the rapidly expanding gene therapy market sector...