ZipBio and MeiraGTx Enter into Exclusive License Agreement to Advance First-in-Class AAV Gene Therapy for Geographic Atrophy
BOSTON, Feb. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- ZipBio, a biotechnology company pioneering AI-driven protein therapeutics, announced an exclusive license agreement with MeiraGTx Holdings plc (NASDAQ:MGTX), a vertically integrated, clinical-stage genetic medicines company. Under the agreement, MeiraGTx will receive exclusive rights to ZipBio's first-in-class therapies for Geographic Atrophy, targeting the complement pathway.
The licensing deal leverages the strengths of both companies, combining MeiraGTx's leadership in vector design, clinical development, and in-house manufacturing of genetic medicines, and ZipBio's expertise in de novo-designed protein therapeutics, developed using its COMPACT™ generative AI platform. The agreement includes upfront, as well as potential milestone and royalty payments. Financial terms were not disclosed.
COMPACT™ is ZipBio's proprietary generative AI platform for designing protein therapeutics beyond the limits of conventional biologics. It enables the creation of Zip® drugs - compact, multifunctional, and logic-gated proteins. Through COMPACT™, ZipBio has built a growing pipeline across multiple high-impact therapeutic areas, focused on validated targets that have remained out of reach for existing drug modalities.
Roee Farber, MD, CEO of ZipBio, said: "MeiraGTx's expertise in development of best-in-class genetic medicines in ophthalmology makes them the ideal partner to bring our next generation AI-designed Geographic Atrophy therapies to patients with a significant unmet need. This license agreement allows ZipBio to concentrate on advancing our internal pipeline in immunology and cardiovascular disease, while continuing to pioneer next-generation biologics designed to target disease pathways that have historically been challenging to address. Together, this approach reflects our commitment to developing therapies that tackle some of today's most prevalent and impactful diseases."
The agreement highlights the growing role of AI-enabled biologics in accelerating drug discovery and delivering transformative therapies for diseases with significant unmet medical needs.
About ZipBio
ZipBio is a biotechnology company designing next-generation protein therapeutics using generative AI. Its COMPACT™ platform enables the creation of multi-specific and logic-gated biologics to target disease pathways that have been historically difficult to modulate.
About MeiraGTx
MeiraGTx (NASDAQ:MGTX) is a vertically integrated, clinical-stage genetic medicines company with a broad pipeline with four late-stage clinical programs. Each of these programs use local delivery of small doses resulting in disease modifying effects in both inherited and more common diseases, in the eye, Parkinson's disease and radiation-induced xerostomia. MeiraGTx uses its innovative technology in optimization of capsids, promoters and novel translational control elements to develop best in class, potent, safe viral vectors. MeiraGTx's broad pipeline is supported by end-to-end in-house manufacturing. MeiraGTx has built the most comprehensive manufacturing capabilities in the industry, including two manufacturing facilities that are licensed for GMP viral vector production and a GMP QC facility with clinical and commercial licensure. In addition, MeiraGTx has developed a proprietary manufacturing platform process over 9 years based on more than 20 different viral vectors with leading yield and quality aspects and commercial readiness. Uniquely, MeiraGTx has developed a novel technology for in vivo delivery of any biologic therapeutic using oral small molecules. This transformative riboswitch gene regulation technology allows precise, dose-responsive control of gene expression by oral small molecules. MeiraGTx is focusing the riboswitch platform on the regulated in vivo delivery of metabolic peptides, including GLP-1, GIP, Glucagon, Amylin, PYY and Leptin, as well as cell therapy, CAR-T for liquid and solid tumors and autoimmune diseases, and additionally PNS targets addressing long term intractable pain. MeiraGTx has developed the technology to apply genetic medicine to common diseases, increasing efficacy, addressing novel targets, and expanding access in some of the largest disease areas where the unmet need remains high.
Media Contacts:
ZipBio Inc. contact@ziptx.bio
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SOURCE ZipBio