Sangamo in $3 billion gene-editing deal with Gilead

By Manas Mishra

(Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc will use Sangamo Therapeutics Inc's gene-editing technology to develop cancer treatments in a deal potentially worth about $3 billion to Sangamo, the companies said on Thursday.

The deal is the latest by a major drugmaker looking to develop lucrative gene therapies that have the potential to treat ailments by directly targeting disease-causing genes.

Shares of California biotech firm Sangamo jumped more than 20 percent to a 17-year high of $27.30 on Thursday morning.

"These are indeed exciting times in the field of genome-editing and gene therapy," Sangamo Chief Executive Officer Sandy Macrae said on a call with analysts.

In December, Luxturna, a treatment for a rare disease that causes blindness, became the first gene therapy for an inherited disease to get U.S. regulatory approval.

The treatment, developed by Philadelphia-based Spark Therapeutics Inc, is expected to be priced at $850,000.

Source: Yahoo News