NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Editas Medicine has announced a three-year collaboration with Italy's Fondazione Telethon and Ospedale San Raffaele to research and develop gene-edited hematopoietic stem cell and T-cell therapies.
Under the terms of the agreement, Editas will collaborate with the Milan-based San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy, a joint project of the two Italian partners. The collaborators will try to develop gene-editing approaches to treat rare diseases, including unspecified indications in blood and bone marrow.
Financial and other details of the agreement were not disclosed.
"We at San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy have worked for years to develop targeted integration of therapeutic genes into T cells and HSCs," Director Luigi Naldini said in a statement. "The collaboration with Editas Medicine represents an important opportunity to develop more effective and safe therapies for patients in the years ahead."
Fondazione Telethon is a non-profit organization providing funding for biomedical research while Ospedale San Raffaele is a research hospital.
This is the latest development collaboration for Editas, which has been pursuing gene-editing in hematopoietic stem cells and T cells. In May, the firm signed a $5 million collaboration deal with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics. The firm also has a T-cell editing collaboration with Juno Therapeutics.