Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
In January 2019 Neurocrine Biosciences formed a strategic development and commercialization collaboration with Voyager Therapeutics covering Voyager's CNS gene therapy programs: VY-AADC for Parkinson's disease and VY-FXN01 for Friedreich's ataxia, plus two additional TBD programs. Voyager received $165M upfront ($115M cash + a $50M equity investment at $11.96/share) and was eligible for up to $1.7B in development, regulatory and commercial milestones. Outcome to date is mixed: Neurocrine terminated the lead Parkinson's program (VY-AADC) in August 2021 after the FDA placed a clinical hold tied to MRI abnormalities. The Friedreich's ataxia program advanced — Neurocrine/Voyager selected NBIB-'223 (a TRACER capsid-delivered frataxin gene therapy) as the development candidate in February 2024, the program subsequently received FDA orphan drug designation and completed IND-enabling work, and Neurocrine intends to start a Phase 1 trial in the second half of 2026 pending FDA IND clearance.