Partnership is first investment under Merck Serono Ventures’ €10 million Israel Bioincubator Program.

Aegerion is preparing for an advisory committee meeting after submitting its LDL-C lowering oral drug lomitapide to FDA for patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. The NDA was submitted ahead of that for Isis/Genzyme’s injectable competitor, mipomersen.

With the launch of AAVLife, Versant Ventures adds to its gene therapy portfolio, and people with Friedreich's ataxia can look to another program that takes aim at the rare inherited disease.