1. Voyager Program Facts

NASA's twin probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, are leaving the solar. These are some of the Voyager program's achievements while the.

Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressive and debilitating neurodegenerative disease that affects approximately 1 million people in the U.S. and 6 million people worldwide. 1 Parkinson’s disease is characterized by a loss of dopamine and its function. Dopamine is a chemical “messenger” that is produced in the brain and is involved in the control of movement. Some chemicals, like dopamine, are made from other chemicals by proteins called enzymes. Dopamine is made in the brain when the enzyme AADC (Aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase) converts the chemical levodopa to dopamine.

Levodopa, AADC, and dopamine are each present at normal levels in healthy people.When dopamine levels decrease in the brain and there is no longer enough to control movement, the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease including tremors, slow movement or loss of movement, rigidity, and postural instability, may occur. When this happens, a doctor may prescribe a levodopa medication, which is converted into dopamine by the enzyme AADC in the same way that naturally occurring levodopa is converted to dopamine.As Parkinson’s disease worsens, there is less AADC enzyme in parts of the brain where it is needed to convert levodopa to dopamine. Therefore, the amount of dopamine that is produced from each dose of levodopa medicine may be reduced. When this happens, patients’ motor function may worsen with a less predictable response to medications.Voyager Therapeutics’ investigational gene therapy is designed to put the AADC enzyme into brain cells where it can convert levodopa to dopamine.

To do this, the AADC gene is delivered inside a transporter called “adeno-associated viral vector” (AAV), much like a letter that carries the instructions the brain needs to make the AADC enzyme with the AAV as the envelope that carries the letter.About the Phase 2 RESTORE-1 Clinical TrialVoyager completed enrolling an open-label, dose-escalating Phase 1b trial of VY-AADC in fifteen patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of escalating doses of VY-AADC. In this trial one-time administration of VY-AADC led to improvements in patients’ motor function. Patients were able to reduce their daily levodopa and other Parkinson’s disease medications.

To date, infusions of VY-AADC have been well-tolerated. Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a rare, rapidly progressive, fatal disease characterized by the degeneration of nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain resulting in severe muscle atrophy with loss of the ability to walk and speak, and premature death. The median survival is approximately three years, and 90 percent of people with ALS die within five years of symptom onset¹. ALS affects approximately 20,000 people in the U.S., with less than 10,000 new cases identified each year reflecting a high rate of mortality and short survival, relative to other diseases with similar incidences².Patients with ALS typically develop weakness in one body region (upper or lower limb or bulbar) and then develop symptoms and signs of progressive dysfunction of motor neurons. The majority of ALS cases occur sporadically and with unknown cause, but in approximately 10 percent of patients, the cause is familial and can be linked to an identifiable genetic defect. An estimated 20 percent of familial cases can be attributed to mutations in superoxide dismutase 1 gene (SOD1). SOD1 is the first mutant gene discovered to cause the development of ALS, through a toxic gain of function mechanism leading to motor neuron pathogenesis³.

Riluzole is the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of ALS. In controlled trials, riluzole delayed the time to onset of tracheostomy or death by approximately two to three months, but did not improve muscle strength or neurological function.Voyager is generating a lead clinical candidate for the treatment of ALS due to mutations in SOD1. Multiple studies have demonstrated that mutant SOD1 is toxic to motor neurons, and leads to their progressive loss. The lead candidate would be composed of a proprietary adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsid and transgene with a micro RNA (miRNA) expression cassette that harnesses the RNAi pathway to selectively silence, or knockdown, the production of SOD1 messenger RNA. With a single intrathecal (IT) injection, this lead candidate would have the potential to durably reduce the levels of toxic mutant SOD1 protein in the CNS to slow the progression of disease.1 Sorenson EJ, et al.

(2002) Neurology 59:280-282.23 Rosen D, et al. (1993) Nature 362:59-62. Huntington’s disease is a fatal, inherited neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive decline of motor and cognitive functions and a range of behavioral and psychiatric disturbances. The disease affects approximately 30,000 individuals in the U.S., according to the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, with symptoms usually appearing between the ages of 30 to 50, and worsening over a 10 to 25-year period. Huntington’s disease is caused by mutations in the huntingtin, or HTT, gene. While the exact function of the HTT gene in healthy individuals is unknown, it is essential for normal development before birth and mutations in the HTT gene ultimately lead to the production of abnormal intracellular huntingtin protein aggregates that cause neuronal cell death.

Huntington’s disease is an autosomal dominant disorder, which means that every child of a parent with Huntington’s has a 50/50 chance of inheriting the faulty HTT gene. Currently, there are no approved treatments targeting the underlying cause of the disease and only one drug, tetrabenazine, has been approved for the treatment of the specific motor symptoms of Huntington’s disease.Because HTT mutations that cause Huntington’s disease are toxic gain-of-function mutations, we believe that we can employ an AAV gene therapy approach designed to knock down expression of the HTT gene.

VY-HTT01 works by knocking down HTT expression in neurons and astrocytes in the striatum and cortex (discrete regions in the brain that can be targeted with AAV gene therapy delivered directly into the brain), thereby reducing the level of toxicity associated with mutated protein in these brain regions, and slowing the progression of cognitive and motor symptoms. We believe that we can use the same surgical delivery approach to the brain for this program that has been used for VY-AADC for our Parkinson’s disease program, allowing us to leverage prior clinical experience.Our collaborators at Sanofi-Genzyme completed significant preclinical work focused on AAV gene therapy for Huntington’s disease. Sanofi-Genzyme’s preclinical studies in a mouse model of Huntington’s disease demonstrated the safety and efficacy of AAV gene therapy targeting the knockdown of the HTT gene in the CNS. Using an AAV vector delivered directly to the CNS, HTT gene expression was observed to be reduced by more than 50 percent, on average, in the treatment group as compared to the control group. No signs of toxicity were reported. In addition, significant functional benefit was observed in the treatment group, as measured by the rotarod test to assess motor function, and the Porsolt Swim Test to measure depressive behavior in mice.Sanofi-Genzyme’s Huntington’s disease gene therapy program was combined with our efforts in connection with our collaboration agreement in February 2015. We are screening a series of microRNA expression cassettes and encoded payloads and multiple rounds of optimization have resulted in candidates that are potent and selective for knocking down HTT.

In addition, many construct configurations were evaluated toward identifying one that would provide excellent yield and genome integrity for manufacturing scale-up in our baculovirus AAV manufacturing system in insect-derived cells. Preclinical data in large mammals have demonstrated that a single intrastriatal administration results in robust knockdown of HTT in the striatum.Through our product engine efforts, we constructed and have screened multiple RNAi sequences within a number of miRNA cassettes. Multiple vector genome configurations have been compared as well.

We are conducting the necessary experiments to evaluate these potential lead candidates based upon criteria that include safety, selectivity, potency and efficiency and precision of microRNA processing. This work leverages the learnings from the VY-SOD101 program, as we anticipate that the miRNA cassettes and vector genome configurations that we designed for that program will be applicable to all of our RNAi programs, including VY-HTT01.We are also in the process of confirming in non-human primate studies that the current lead capsid is optimal for the VY-HTT01 program. The criteria include safety, overall level of transgene expression achieved, distribution of transgene expression, and the specific cell types transduced.We are evaluating direct injection into the brain for the best distribution and delivery to the regions relevant to Huntington’s disease – striatum and cortex. We are studying parameters such as site of administration, volume of administration and rate of infusion to identify the dosing paradigm that we believe will translate into an effective therapy in patients.We are in the process of completing a number of preclinical studies to evaluate the safety, biodistribution, pharmacology and efficacy of our lead candidate, including studies in relevant animal models to support an investigational new drug (IND) application. We expect that the first clinical trial of VY-HTT01 will enroll Huntington’s disease patients. Friedreich’s ataxia is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease resulting in poor coordination of the legs and arms, progressive loss of the ability to walk, generalized weakness, loss of sensation, scoliosis, diabetes and cardiomyopathy as well as impaired vision, hearing and speech.

The typical age of onset is 10 to 12 years, and life expectancy is severely reduced with patients generally dying of neurological and cardiac complications between the ages of 35 and 45. According to the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance, there are approximately 6,400 patients living with the disease in the United States and no FDA-approved treatments.Friedreich’s ataxia patients have mutations of the FXN gene that reduce production of the frataxin protein, resulting in the degeneration of sensory pathways and a variety of debilitating symptoms. Friedreich’s ataxia is an autosomal recessive disorder, meaning that a person must obtain a defective copy of the FXN gene from both parents in order to develop the condition. One healthy copy of the FXN gene, or 50 percent of normal frataxin protein levels, is sufficient to prevent the disease phenotype. We therefore believe we may be able to achieve success by restoring FXN protein levels to approximately 50 percent of normal levels using AAV gene therapy.We are developing an AAV gene therapy approach that delivers a functional version of the FXN gene to the sensory pathways through intrathecal or intravenous injection.

Voyager Program Facts

We believe this approach has the potential to improve the balance, ability to walk, sensory capability, coordination, strength and functional capacity of Friedreich’s ataxia patients. Most Friedreich’s ataxia patients produce very low levels of the frataxin protein, which, though insufficient to prevent the disease, exposes the patient’s immune system to frataxin, thus reducing the likelihood that the FXN protein expressed by AAV gene therapy would trigger a harmful immune response.We conducted preclinical studies in non-human primates and achieved high FXN expression levels within the target sensory ganglia, or clusters of neurons, along the spinal region following intrathecal injection. FXN expression was normalized as a fold increase relative to FXN expression in a human brain reference sample. The levels of FXN expression observed using an AAVrh10 vector were, on average, greater than FXN levels present in normal human brain tissue. The increased levels of FXN were achieved in cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral levels. Relatively low, but measurable, levels of FXN expression were also observed in the cerebellar dentate nucleus, another area of the CNS that is often affected in Friedreich’s ataxia, and that is often considered difficult to target therapeutically.VY-FXN01 is currently in preclinical development. Once we identify a lead candidate for this program, we plan to complete preclinical studies to evaluate the safety and efficacy of our lead candidate, including studies in a relevant animal model of Friedreich’s ataxia and IND-enabling studies.

We expect that the first clinical trial of VY-FXN01 will enroll Friedreich’s ataxia patients. Pathological and aggregated tau protein is believed to play a key role in severe CNS diseases. In healthy individuals, tau is an abundant soluble cytoplasmic protein that binds to microtubules to promote microtubule stability and function. In Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other tauopathies, tau aggregates and becomes hyper-phosphorylated, forming insoluble tau-containing neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). The progressive spread of tau pathology along distinct anatomical pathways in the brain closely correlates with disease progression and severity in a number of tauopathies, including AD, frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTD), Pick’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration.

Because the extent of tau pathology in AD and other tauopathies closely correlates with the severity of neurodegeneration, synapse loss, and cognitive deficits, attempts to prevent, reduce or slow the development of tau pathology have become important therapeutic strategies for these diseases.In previous preclinical studies, despite high, weekly or biweekly infusions of anti-tau monoclonal antibodies over three to six months, only very low levels of antibody reach the brain parenchyma from the systemic circulation resulting in modestly reduced tau pathology. Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. A hallmark of Parkinson’s disease is the accumulation of misfolded alpha-synuclein that can eventually lead to the formation of protein deposits and progressive neurodegeneration. Approaches to interfere with this process could potentially delay the progression of Parkinson’s disease and other synucleinopathies including Lewy Body Dementia and multiple system atrophy.The delivery of sufficient quantities of antibodies across the blood-brain barrier is one of the major limitations of current biologic therapies for neurodegenerative diseases that require frequent systemic injections with large amounts of antibodies. Voyager’s vectorized antibody platform and approach aims to circumvent this limitation by delivering, with a potential one-time intravenous administration, the genes that encode for the production of therapeutic antibodies utilizing Voyager’s blood-brain barrier penetrant adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids.

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