US-based firms ZipBio and MeiraGTx (Nasdaq: MGTX) entered into a strategic licensing agreement under which MeiraGTx will obtain exclusive rights to ZipBio’s first-in-class complement pathway therapies for geographic atrophy (GA). The deal includes upfront, milestone, and royalty payments, with financial specifics not disclosed.

Founded in 2023, ZipBio uses artificial intelligence to design de novo proteins, which it terms as “Zip drugs”, smaller and more efficient than conventional biologics. The platform focuses on creating multi-specific, logic-gated biologics that can target complex disease pathways in immunology and cardiovascular disease, with the compressed biologics representing more efficient proteins that enable therapeutic delivery and effectiveness improvements. MeiraGTx is a company with technical capabilities in vector development for genetic therapies, and with experience in ophthalmic conditions, with the two firms planning to leverage respective capabilities on the development of GA therapeutics.

Deal context

Geographic atrophy (GA) is a progressive, vision-threatening form of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) characterized by irreversible loss of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), photoreceptors, and choriocapillaris. The pathogenesis is multifactorial, involving oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, and dysregulation of the complement system, with genetic variants in complement pathway genes (e.g., CFH, C3, CFI) strongly associated with increased risk.

The FDA issued approvals for the first disease-modifying therapies capable of slowing GA lesion progression in 2023, for Apellis Pharmaceutical’s pegcetacoplan (Syfovre), a C3 complement inhibitor, and Iveric Bio’s avacincaptad pegol (Izervay), a PEGylated RNA aptamer that acts as a complement C5 inhibitor. Notably, next generation mechanisms under development for GA include gene therapies designed as one-time injections that lead to natural generation of complement inhibitors in the patient. Examples include Complement Therapeutics’ CTX-001, which uses an AAV vector to deliver a protein (mini-CR1) that regulates both the classical and alternative complement pathways, awarded US FDA fast-track status in January and set for Phase I/II trials in Q1 2026.