“We know that CG01 has great potential thanks to the out-licensing to Spark. I also see enormous potential in our pain project, which shows impressive preclinical data,” says Annika Ericsson.
Gene therapy company CombiGenes primary focus is the development of the pain program COZY which is being developed together with Danish ZyneyroThe goal of the project, which consists of a peptide treatment (COZY01) and a gene therapy treatment (COZY02), is to develop an effective treatment for severe chronic nerve pain.
Major owners see high potential
The gene therapy project is also in the pipeline. CG01 which is being developed for the treatment of severe drug-resistant focal epilepsy. The project has previously been out-licensed to the American company Spark Therapeutics.
In January 2024, CombiGene regained global rights to CG01 after the collaboration agreement was terminated due to a strategic review of Spark's pipeline. The new major owner Orphazyme However, CombiGene has high expectations that it will succeed in finding a new licensee who can take the project all the way to product launch. Read more here.
New research director
In parallel with the progress of the COSY project and the selection process for potential recipients of CG01, CombiGene's Chief Research Officer has Karin Agerman has decided to move on to a new position outside the company. The company's former Director Preclinical Development, Annika Ericsson will take over the role in August.
Annika has worked at the company since 2018 and has extensive experience in preclinical gene therapy development and project management. She started by driving the preclinical testing of CG01 and has subsequently been project manager for the completed lipodystrophy project CGT2, and most recently COZY02.
BioStock reached out to Ericsson for comment.
Annika, can you start by telling us a little about your professional background?
– I have a PhD from Karolinska Institutet in medical biochemistry, with a thesis that focused on enzyme and gene therapy for acute intermittent porphyria. After my PhD, I completed postdoctoral studies at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. I also have 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, ranging from laboratory work to development and scale-up of production processes for protein drugs. In addition, I have served as a project manager for preclinical studies in various lysosomal diseases.
– Within CombiGene, in my role as Director Preclinical Development, I have driven the preclinical testing of CG01 and been project manager for CGT2, and now COZY02, our latest gene therapy project in severe chronic pain.
What experiences do you bring with you from your previous role as project manager for several of Combigene's projects?
– It has been both exciting and educational to lead several of the company's gene therapy projects. I have gained valuable experience from collaborating with academia and CRO companies and acting as a "spider in the web" to coordinate the projects. Keeping to deadlines and budgets has made me solution-oriented and decisive. I have also realized the importance of clear communication to keep the projects on track. All of this experience will really come in handy in my new role.
What will be the biggest difference between the two roles?
– Now I need to take a holistic approach to all projects. Previously, my focus was more detailed on an individual project, but now I have to look up and adopt a helicopter view. In addition, I will need to focus on CombiGene's further development by identifying and pursuing new, exciting gene therapy projects.
How do you see the potential of the company's projects?
– We know that CG01 has great potential thanks to the out-licensing to Spark Therapeutics. I also see enormous potential in our pain project, which shows impressive preclinical data. The fact that we now have evidence of the presence of our target protein in human tissues provides further support for that project. I am particularly passionate about COZY02, which has shown long-term effects in pain models for up to a year. Imagine how amazing it would be to be able to offer a treatment that can completely block pain signals in the nervous system and give the patient total pain relief for a long time. That would have been a dream scenario.
Finally, what goals do you have for the coming years?
– CombiGene needs to bring in new exciting gene therapy projects, and there will be a big focus on that. Our team has an impressive capacity to drive projects forward with high competence in drug development and gene therapy, which means that we can take on almost any project. My goal is to actively drive our ongoing pain projects forward in order to out-license them to a larger player. If we also succeed in a new out-licensing of CG01, I see that as a bonus.