Dr. Al Sandrock
Thank you, Pete, and good afternoon, everyone. Please turn to slide 3. I'd like to start by briefly reviewing Voyager's investment rationale, platform, pipeline, partnerships and potential. First, the platform: The delivery of gene therapies into the central nervous system, or CNS, has historically proven challenging. Voyager is working to solve this delivery challenge with our TRACER capsid discovery platform. We have generated multiple families of novel capsids with robust CNS tropism following IV delivery. We believe our capsids are best-in-class because we have demonstrated high transduction in multiple brain areas at relatively low doses with the targeting of the liver and dorsal root ganglia neurons. We have also shown the ability to target neurons and glial cells, blood brain barrier or BBB penetrants across multiple species and an identified receptor that is also expressed in humans. Second, our pipeline: We are advancing two wholly owned and two partnered CNS programs through late-stage research and towards IND filings. The most advanced is our anti-tau antibody program for Alzheimer's disease, for which we anticipate an IND filing in the first half of 2024. We were encouraged by the data presented by some of our peers at the recent clinical trials on Alzheimer's disease meeting, which provided for the first time an early clinical evidence showing that tau targeting therapies slowed cognitive decline. These data strengthen our conviction in the value of tau as an important therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease. Behind our anti-tau antibody, we have multiple opportunities to advance gene therapies enabled by our novel TRACER capsids into the clinic in 2025, including potentially our wholly owned SOD1 program for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Third, partnerships: Voyager has generated more than $200 million this year alone in non-dilutive partnering revenue. We currently have 11 partnered programs, which provide opportunities to achieve milestone and/or royalty revenue to generate data with our capsids and most importantly, to help patients. Finally, potential: Specifically the potential to expand from gene therapy into other approaches of neurogenetic medicine. We have identified multiple receptors associated with our capsid families. We are exploring the potential to leverage one of these, which we call Receptor X to shuttle non-viral genetic medicines across the blood brain barrier. I am increasingly excited about the potential here to expand the reach of our technology into other approaches of neurogenetic medicine. Moving to slide 4. As you can see, Voyager is advancing quite a robust pipeline. However, we are doing so efficiently. The wholly-owned programs at the top of this slide that noted in orange are the only programs we fund. The rest of our pipeline is funded by our partners. During Q3, Voyager focused on advancing our prioritized pipeline programs toward the clinic. We initiated GLP toxicology studies with VY-TAU01, our humanized anti-tau antibody for Alzheimer's disease. This program is on track for an IND filing in the first half of 2024. We also continue to advance our SOD1 gene therapy program for ALS. This program is on track for a development candidate selection before the end of this year to support an IND in mid-2025. As we move forward towards the clinic, we are thoughtfully building clinical expertise within the Voyager team, including in regulatory affairs, toxicology and development operations. I will make one more note before we leave this slide. In September, Alexion, Astra