Gene TherapiesPof says, "Gene therapies can be very expensive and still have risk."
Gene therapies, especially with the advent of CRISPR, are highly likely to be the therapies of choice for monogenetic diseases, as I believe most of the important LSDs are. The cost will likely be handled by annuity types of payment schemes.
Let's say that Chiesi and Protalix patent an xB3-PRX102 drug. That patent should be good for 20 years. The problem lies with technologies like gene therapies that could come into use in 5 years, or even 8 or 10 years from now. That would cut the revenue-generating capabilities of a patent for xB3-PRX102 by 50% to 75%, maybe even by 90%. That raises a big question about the revenue that xB3-PRX102 could generate and the current value of that drug, especially if the drug takes 5 years to be approved by the FDA.
I think there's a serious question about the ultimate value of the Bioasis/Chiesi deal to anybody. The value of the deal to Bioasis is already set. No matter what, it's $3 million up front and $138 million in milestones for the four LSDs. It's a big question to me whether the royalty will ever be worth anything.
The big deals for Bioasis don't lie with that deal, I don't think. The value is with oncology, xB3-004, progranulin, PD, MS, AD, and a host of other drug/disease combinations that haven't even been discussed yet.
I predict that when PRX102 and the ProCellEx plant cell-based manufacturing process are finally approved by the FDA that the event will mean absolutely nothing to Bioasis investors.
There is so much more that is worth so much more.
jd