Startup Vedere Bio II Shuts Down After Preclinical Studies Fall Short

About 2 years after its launch, gene therapy start-up Vedere Bio II is shutting down. The decision comes after preclinical studies did not meet targets. The announcement was made from the company’s chairman Kevin Bitterman and CEO Cyrus Mozayeni.

“We had a bold mission, to discover and develop products for exceptional, genotype-agnostic vision restoration through a novel optogenetics approach. We set a high bar for success, and a broad set of preclinical efficacy studies were performed to determine if we cleared that bar.  Based on the results of those studies, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our efforts,” the leaders posted on the Vedere Bio II website.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Vedere II was formed in May 2021, about 7 months after Novartis acquired its predecessor, Vedere Bio, for about $150 million upfront and up to $130 million in milestones, according to a Biospace report. The report stated that the assets Novartis received from the 2020 buyout are in preclinical development.

Vedere II launched with 14 employees and worked on genetic medicines that could tackle a wide variety of mutation-derived blindness disorders. By using adeno-associated virus capsids, Vedere II hoped to target cells downstream from a defective photoreceptor and convert these functional players into light-sensing proxies.

“The mission of vision restoration for the millions of people who suffer from both genetic and non-genetic causes of vision loss is a worthy one, and we believe the future is bright.  We cheer for those of you who continue to carry the torch towards this goal and look forward to seeing your success,” Mr. Bitterman and Mr. Mozayeni stated on their website.