Danaher Joins Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium (BGTC) for Rare Diseases

Consortium aims to speed the development and delivery of customized or 'bespoke' gene therapies

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) announced that it has joined the Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium (BGTC). Launched in October 2021, the BGTC will generate gene therapy resources that the research community can use to streamline gene therapy development for rare disorders, making the process more efficient and less costly. Danaher's Life Science companies join the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), twelve pharmaceutical and biotech companies and nine non-profits, and will be represented by experts from Danaher Corporation and its companies, notably Pall Corporation, Aldevron and Cytiva. The project is managed by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) as part of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership® program.

"Danaher's companies have a history of working with drug developers to provide new technologies and services that enable the advancement of breakthrough genomic medicines," said Sadik Kassim, Chief Technology Officer, Genomic Medicines for the Life Sciences companies at Danaher. "We are committed to continuing our work in this space and to collaborating with the NIH, FDA, and like-minded industry partners to accelerate the development of platform technologies and diagnostics that enable the next generation of breakthrough therapies."

The BGTC was formed in response to shortcomings in the current drug development model that make it difficult for companies to recover the costs required to develop gene therapies to treat rare and ultra-rare diseases.

"The Life Sciences companies of Danaher have the global presence and broad capabilities to support Genomic Medicine researchers and the industrial scale-up of biological treatments, making them ideal contributors to the BGTC. We are confident that their reach and expertise will help the BGTC realize its goal of streamlining the drug development process to reduce costs and enable companies to bring more gene therapies to patients," said Courtney Silverthorn, Associate Vice President of Research Partnerships at the FNIH.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world what is possible when partners from the public, private and non-profit sectors come together to solve big, societal challenges," said Jose-Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos, Chief Science Officer at Danaher. "We believe collaborations like the BGTC are critical to unlock bottlenecks in the development of therapies for rare and ultra-rare diseases."

Learn more about BGTC by visiting https://fnih.org/our-programs/AMP/BGTC. 

ABOUT DANAHER 
Danaher is a global science and technology innovator committed to helping its customers solve complex challenges and improving quality of life around the world. Its family of world class brands has leadership positions in the demanding and attractive health care, environmental and applied end-markets. With more than 20 operating companies, Danaher's globally diverse team of approximately 80,000 associates is united by a common culture and operating system, the Danaher Business System, and its Shared Purpose, Helping Realize Life's Potential. For more information, please visit www.danaher.com.

ABOUT BGTC 
The Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium (BGTC) is part of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership® (AMP®) program, a public–private partnership among NIH, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), multiple pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, and nonprofit and other organizations. The AMP program, which is managed by the Foundation for the NIH (FNIH), aims to improve current models for developing diagnostics and therapies. The BGTC is establishing platforms and standards to speed the development and delivery of customized or "bespoke" gene therapies that could treat millions of people affected by rare diseases, including diseases too rare to be of commercial interest. The BGTC is the first AMP initiative focused on rare diseases and the sixth AMP initiative overall. It also is the first to focus on a therapeutic platform.

ABOUT THE FOUNDATION FOR THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH 
The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health creates and manages alliances with public and private institutions in support of the mission of the NIH, the world's premier medical research agency. The Foundation, also known as the FNIH, works with its partners to accelerate biomedical research and strategies against diseases and health concerns in the United States and across the globe. The FNIH organizes and administers research projects; supports education and training of new researchers; organizes educational events and symposia; and administers a series of funds supporting a wide range of health issues. Established by Congress, the FNIH is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For additional information about the FNIH, please visit fnih.org.

SOURCE Danaher Corporation