Coave Therapeutics

France-based Coave Therapeutics is a developer of gene therapeutics for patients with neurology and ophthalmology-related conditions. Specifically, the company is developing therapeutics targeting neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, multiple system atrophy, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), and inherited retinal dystrophy. Coave uses adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene-based therapies through its ALIGATER platform. The platform uses a conjugation of chemical ligands to specific amino acids of the AAV capsid. As of August 2023, the company had generated more than 50 AAV Ligand Conjugates through its platform.

Coave employs four different mechanisms to alter AAV capsid: biodistribution, cell and tissue targeting, intracellular, and evade immune responses.

As of May 2024, Coave had three potential candidates in development. The company’s candidate for the treatment of Parkinson’s and its candidate for the treatment of multiple system atrophy were both in preclinical stages of proof of concept testing. Its therapeutic for ALS and other proteinopathies was in its discovery stage.

Key customers and partnerships

Coave partnered with contract development and manufacturing organization ABL in June 2022 to initially collaborate to jointly develop manufacturing technologies for AAV-based gene therapeutics. At a later stage, Coave would gain exclusive process development capacity and laboratory space within ABL’s plant.

Coave Therapeutics also collaborated with the Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases (IMN) of Bordeaux in September 2022 to develop gene therapy solutions that target protein degradation in neurodegenerative disorders.