Pinpoint gene therapy: expanding the landscape of gene therapy
EG 427 is a French biotechnology company that pioneers a new approach in gene therapy called pinpoint gene therapy.
By exploiting the natural properties of Herpes Simplex Virus 1 (HSV-1), notably its ability to establish lifelong latency in peripheral neurons, EG 427 ensures highly specific and durable expression of the transgene to treat, in the long run, patients with severe, chronic and localized diseases, starting with peripheral nervous system disorders.
One year after its inception, EG 427 has already built its proprietary HSV-1 vector platform and achieved the preclinical proof of its concept in the most common type of neurogenic bladder (urinary bladder dysfunction due to supra-sacral spinal cord injury). Today, the company is evaluating the potential of pinpoint gene therapy in other indications that involve different compartments of the peripheral nervous system. The company expects to start its first clinical trials by 2023.
Based in Paris, EG 427 was founded by a world-renowned team in the field of HSV-1 vectorology and spinal cord injury-related disorders.
The
vector
Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1)
The technology platform
Ready-for-use recombinant deleted vectors
First target
Indication
Neurogenic bladder in patients with spinal cord injury
Founders and executive team
Philippe Chambon,
MD, PhD
Founder & CEO
23 years venture capital investing experience, from start ups to late stage; mostly US experience.
Mikael Contrastin,
MSc&T
VP Strategy & Engineering
Oriented towards developing innovative products, first as an engineer in the automotive industry, then as investment director of Paris-Saclay technology transfer office, focusing on licensing and spin-off creation.
Alberto Epstein, PhD
Founder & CSO
Worldwide expert in Herpes vectors
Director Emeritus at CNRS; thought leader and coordinator on several pan European programs using HSV-1 as a vector. Extensive body of publications as well as several patents.
Grzegorz Sarek, Ph.D.
VP Research
Wealth of experience in the fields of virology, gene therapy, translational biomedicine and cancer biology. Extensive knowledge of Herpes family viruses and a considerable experience in viral gene transfer methods using AAV-based vectors.
Samuel Salot,
MSc, MBA
COO
Strong preclinical management experience across several biotech and CRO companies : project management early on then COO roles.
The leadership team is strongly supported by scientific co-founders, experts in the first target indication of the company.
Scientific co-founders
François Giuliano,
MD, PhD
Expert in translational urology
Urologist, R. Poincaré Hospital, Garches, France.
Professor of Therapeutics at Versailles-Saint Quentin/Paris Saclay university.
Pr. Giuliano’s major research interests include experimental and clinical research on pathophysiology and management of functional lower urinary tract disorders and sexual dysfunctions. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers, reviews and book chapters.
Pierre Denys,
MD, PhD
Expert in neuro-urology
Head of the Neuro Urology Unit at the physical medicine and rehabilitation department at Raymond Poincaré Hospital.
Professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Versailles Saint Quentin.
His focus of interest is the treatment of urological and sexual disorders after a neurological disease. He has authored more than 180 peer-reviewed publications and numerous chapters of books on neuro-urology.
Charles Joussain,
MD, PhD
Post-doctoral position as visiting researcher at King's College London
University of Versailles Saint-Quentin, Paris-Saclay, France
Charles works in the Neuro-Urology Units (Pr Pierre Denys) at Raymond Poincaré Hospital.
Under Alberto Epstein's direction during his PhD, he acquired competencies in constructing and developing tools for assessing defective HSV-1 vectors.
Scientific Advisory Board
Prof. Lynn W. Enquist,
PhD
Prof. Samuel Rabkin,
PhD
Professor of Neurosciences, Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School and Virologist in Neurosurgery at Mass General, Boston, MA.
Prof. David J. Fink,
MD
Emeritus Professor of Neurology at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, MI.
What Our scientific founder says
The wild-type HSV-1 virus has a number of unique features that are of interest for gene therapy. We have modified the virus to produce non-toxic HSV-1-based vectors that should support gene therapy for patients suffering from neurogenic detrusor overactivity. With a little tweaking we should also be able to extend the benefits of HSV-1-based gene therapy to other diseases of the peripheral nervous system and beyond.