Avrobio up 69% on plans to sell gene therapy program to Novartis

• Avrobio, Inc (NASDAQ:AVRO) spiked ~69% in the pre-market trading Monday after the clinical-stage biotech announced an agreement to sell its hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) gene therapy program targeted at cystinosis to Novartis (NYSE:NVS).
• Per the terms, the Swiss drugmaker is expected to pay $87.5M in cash for Avrobio (AVRO) when the agreement closes, the company said, adding that the proceeds will extend its cash runway into Q4 2024.
• AVRO has also entered into a separate agreement to provide knowledge transfer and other related services to facilitate the program's transition.
• "This transaction strengthens AVROBIO's balance sheet, focuses our pipeline strategy and is a strong endorsement of our HSC gene therapy approach and plato® gene therapy platform," AVRO's chief executive Erik Ostrowski remarked.

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