Capsida Biotherapeutics announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for CAP-003, its potential best-in-class intravenously (IV) administered gene therapy, to enter clinical trials for Parkinson’s disease associated with GBA mutations (PD-GBA). This is the second wholly owned clinical program developed by Capsida with a cleared IND. Both programs utilize a proprietary IV-delivered, blood brain barrier-crossing engineered capsid and proprietary cargo that is detargeted from off-target tissues, like liver and dorsal root ganglia (DRG). In addition, Capsida uses a proprietary manufacturing process and CAP-003 is manufactured in Capsida’s state-of-the-art wholly owned Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) facility.
“PD-GBA is an area of substantial unmet need given the lack of approved treatments that target GCase, which is the protein encoded by the GBA gene, and provide meaningful slowing or halting of disease progression,” said Swati Tole, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Capsida Biotherapeutics. “We recognize the urgency for new treatment approaches, so we are working diligently to initiate the Phase 1/2 clinical trial for CAP-003 with the aim of dosing the first patient in the third quarter of this year.”