SparingVision Selects Second Target in Strategic Collaboration with Intellia Therapeutics

Paris, September 26, 2023 – SparingVision (“the Company”), a clinical-stage genomic medicine company developing vision-saving treatments for ocular diseases, today announces that it has selected a second target as part of its strategic collaboration with Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTLA) to develop novel genomic medicines utilizing CRISPR-based gene editing technologies for the treatment of ocular diseases.

Combining SparingVision’s unparalleled knowledge of retinal disease with Intellia’s leading clinical-stage CRISPR-based technologies, the collaboration’s shared goal is to radically change the treatment of blinding ocular diseases by leveraging the power of gene editing. Under the terms of the partnership initiated in October 2021, Intellia granted SparingVision exclusive rights to its proprietary in vivo CRISPR-based technologies for up to three ocular targets addressing diseases with significant unmet medical need. In line with the agreement, SparingVision leads target selection while Intellia is responsible for the design and evaluation of novel gene editing tools. SparingVision subsequently conducts the preclinical and clinical development for the genome editing product candidates and is responsible for funding all developments.

SparingVision selected a first target in early 2022, with the corresponding product currently in the research phase. Today’s update highlights the identification of a second promising target, with SparingVision and Intellia expected to start discovery work in the coming months. Target selection for the collaboration is based on unmet medical need, the size of the indication being targeted, existing competition, and the probability of technical and regulatory success.

Intellia will be eligible to receive around $200 million per product in development and commercial milestone payments as well as royalties on potential future sales. Intellia may also exercise an option to obtain US commercialization rights for product candidates arising from two of three collaboration targets.

Stéphane Boissel, President and Chief Executive Officer of SparingVision, said: “We believe that genomic medicine has the potential to eliminate blinding retinal diseases. To achieve this, a broad-spectrum approach is needed that enables deployment of the right technology to the right disease. CRISPR is critical to this, bringing the possibility of curative therapies to people with sight-threatening diseases. We are delighted that our partnership with Intellia, the leader in CRISPR-based therapies, is progressing so well and we look forward to providing further updates as this partnership advances.”