- Late-breaking oral presentation: IV delivery of VY1706, a CNS penetrant AAV gene therapy for AD, demonstrates compelling pharmacology and safety in a 3-month GLP toxicology study in NHPs -
- Additional data demonstrate continued capsid innovation via muscular and neuromuscular targeting, immune evasion, and manufacturability -
LEXINGTON, Mass., April 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: VYGR), a biotechnology company dedicated to leveraging genetics to treat neurological diseases, today announced eight oral and poster presentations at the upcoming American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy’s (ASGCT) 2026 Annual Meeting taking place in Boston, May 11-15, 2026. Voyager’s investigational tau-silencing gene therapy VY1706 for Alzheimer’s disease, for which Voyager anticipates submitting an investigational new drug (IND) application in Q2 2026 to support projected first-in-human dosing in the second half of 2026, will be featured in a late-breaking presentation of three-month good laboratory practice (GLP) toxicology data.
“As we prepare to advance our tau-silencing gene therapy VY1706 into the clinic for Alzheimer’s disease in the second half of the year, we are assembling a comprehensive preclinical data package that consistently demonstrates a compelling pharmacology and safety profile, and we look forward to sharing the latest data at ASGCT,” said Todd Carter, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Voyager Therapeutics. “Even as we prepare to advance the first gene therapy leveraging our novel, I.V.-delivered, brain-targeted TRACER capsids into the clinic, the team continues to raise the bar with new innovations to expand beyond the CNS via muscular and neuromuscular targeting and to expand the eligible patient population via immune evasion.”
Late-Breaking Oral Presentation
Intravenous delivery of VY1706, a CNS penetrant AAV gene therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, demonstrates compelling pharmacology and safety in a 3-month GLP toxicology study in NHPs. Todd Carter, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer. Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 8:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. ET
Alzheimer’s Disease Targets
Intravenous delivery of a bi-functional AAV gene therapy to reduce endogenous ApoE4 and express ApoE2 in ApoE4 humanized mice (#1460). Michael Grannan, Ph.D., Director, Neuroscience. Tuesday, May 12, 2026, 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. ET
Leveraging TRACER Beyond the CNS and Reducing Immunogenicity
- Oral Presentation: Directed evolution of muscular and neuromuscular capsid variants in both mice and non-human primates. Tyler Moyer, Ph.D., Senior Scientist II, Capsid Discovery. Friday, May 15, 2026, 8:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. ET
- Engineering an AAV9-derived muscle-tropic capsid to evade pre-existing human neutralizing antibodies (#1028). Damien Maura, Ph.D., Senior Scientist II, Capsid Discovery. Tuesday, May 12, 2026, 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. ET
- Leveraging artificial intelligence to design AAV mutant capsids optimized for antibody evasion (#2027). Daniel H. Cox, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Data Science. Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. ET
Enhancing Developability and Manufacturing of Capsids
- Exploiting an AAV capsid specific receptor to develop stable cell lines for transduction based assays for gene therapies (#3148). Shamik Sharma, Ph.D., Senior Director, Process Development. Thursday, May 14, 2026, 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. ET
- Evaluating affinity chromatography media for capture of novel blood-brain-barrier penetrant AAV capsids (#3161). Jacob Guzman, Senior Associate Scientist, Process Development. Thursday, May 14, 2026, 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. ET
- Optimized transfection platform with improved productivity and transgene packaging for scalable rAAV production (#3139). Andrew Schrock, Senior Associate Engineer II, Process Development. Thursday, May 14, 2026, 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. ET
Presentations will be available on Voyager’s website at: https://www.voyagertherapeutics.com/science-publications/.
About the TRACER™ Capsid Discovery Platform
Voyager’s TRACER™ (Tropism Redirection of AAV by Cell-type-specific Expression of RNA) capsid discovery platform is a broadly applicable, RNA-based screening platform that enables rapid discovery of novel AAV capsids to enable gene therapy. Voyager has leveraged TRACER to create multiple families of novel capsids that, following intravenous delivery in preclinical studies, harness the extensive vasculature of the central nervous system (CNS) to cross the blood-brain barrier and transduce a broad range of CNS regions and cell types. In cross-species preclinical studies (rodents and multiple non-human primate species), intravenous delivery of TRACER-generated capsids resulted in widespread payload expression across the CNS at relatively low doses, enabling selection of multiple development candidates in Voyager’s wholly-owned and partnered gene therapy programs for neurologic diseases.
About Voyager Therapeutics
Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: VYGR) is a biotechnology company dedicated to leveraging the power of human genetics to modify the course of – and ultimately cure – neurological diseases. Our pipeline includes programs for Alzheimer’s disease, Friedreich’s ataxia, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and multiple other diseases of the central nervous system. Many of our programs are derived from our TRACER™ AAV capsid discovery platform, which we have used to generate novel capsids and identify associated receptors to potentially enable high brain penetration with genetic medicines following intravenous dosing. Some of our programs are wholly owned, and some are advancing with partners including Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease; Novartis Pharma AG; and Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. For more information, visit http://www.voyagertherapeutics.com.
Voyager Therapeutics® is a registered trademark, and TRACER™ and Voyager NeuroShuttle™ are trademarks, of Voyager Therapeutics, Inc.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws, including, without limitation, implied and express statements about Voyager’s beliefs and expectations regarding Voyager’s advancement of its AAV-based gene therapy programs and the timing and achievement of preclinical and clinical development milestones for VY1706, including the IND filing, initiation of clinical trials, and achievement of first-in-human dosing in AD; the preclinical data for and potential safety and pharmacological effect of VY1706; the potential for Voyager’s novel TRACER capsids to achieve desired results in humans, including to expand potential indications beyond the CNS via muscular and neuromuscular targeting and to expand the eligible patient population via immune evasion; the ability of Voyager’s improvements in manufacturing to enable increased yields and large-scale development of AAV gene therapies; and the mission and goals for our business. The use of words such as “may,” “will,” “might,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “potential,” “intend,” “seek,” “predict,” “estimate,” “project,” “target,” or “continue” and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.
All forward-looking statements are based on management’s current estimates and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements in this press release. Factors include, among others, the risks and uncertainties inherent in the development of product candidates, including the initiation, timing, cost, progress, and results of Voyager’s planned and future clinical trials; expectations and decisions of regulatory authorities; Voyager’s ability to replicate positive results from earlier preclinical studies or clinical trials in current or future clinical trials; potential adverse events Voyager may encounter that could negatively impact development; outcomes of third-party preclinical studies and clinical trials that could impact Voyager’s development plans; Voyager’s ability to demonstrate that current or future product candidates are safe and effective for their proposed indications; Voyager’s scientific approach and continued development of our technology platforms, including the TRACER and non-viral discovery platforms; the development by third parties of capsid identification platforms that may be competitive to our platforms and programs; Voyager’s ability to create and protect our intellectual property rights; the progress and success of programs under current or future collaboration and license agreements; the sufficiency of Voyager’s cash resources to fund our operations and pursue our corporate objectives; and technical and other unexpected hurdles in the development, manufacture and supply of our product candidates, may delay our timing, change our plans, increase our costs, or otherwise negatively impact our business or the sufficiency of our cash resources to fund operations.
These risks and uncertainties are described in Voyager’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of today’s date, and any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made. Voyager undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise this information or any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Contacts
Trista Morrison, NACD.DC, tmorrison@vygr.com
Investors: Sarah McCabe, smccabe@jpa.com
Media: Adam Silverstein, adam@scientpr.com
