JP Morgan 2019 – big hitter mentions can’t help Sangamo

The zinc finger specialist Sangamo is often touted as a takeover target, at least among its army of retail investors, and being name-dropped by both Gilead and Sanofi during JP Morgan presentations had caused excitement. But an update today disappointed: Sangamo fans hoping for important data imminently will have to wait until later this year. The group’s lead assets, SB-913 and SB-318, being developed in mucopolysaccharide diseases, are being profiled at the World Symposium in February, but its chief executive, Sandy Macrae, told JP Morgan today that this readout would only reveal biochemical and safety data. Results in ERT-withdrawal patients will not come until an unspecified time later this year. The company needs to show that the projects produce results in patients who have been weaned off enzyme-replacement therapy (ERT), the standard of care, and Mr Macrae stated: “Until we’ve stopped filling up with ERT we won’t know the true benefit.” Sangamo has a CAR-T alliance with Gilead, as well as having teamed up with the Sanofi-owned Biogen spin-off Bioverativ in haemoglobinopathies, and with Pfizer in haemophilia A. Nevertheless, investors sent its stock down 14% today.