Gene therapy venture makes progress on the path to treating dementia

Dr Graeme Fielder, AviadoBio Chief Operating Officer

18 June 2023

AviadoBio looks set to initiate their first human clinical trial this year for gene therapy they are developing to treat early-onset dementia.

The particular gene therapy moving into clinical trial has been designed to treat a genetic form of early-onset dementia called Fronto-temporal Dementia. It is just one of the medicines being developed by AviadoBio to treat neurogenerative diseases. They are also exploring treatments for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

AviadoBio are exploring two areas of gene therapy – gene supplementation (replacing a disease-causing gene with a healthy copy of the gene) and gene knock down (boxing the deformed gene to stun it, with the aim that when it bounces back it will express itself in its original form). Development has been supported by an $80m injection of Series A financing.

AviadoBio’s work is based on research from King’s College London and the UK Dementia Research Institute. Their Chief Operating Officer is Dr Graeme Fielder, an alumnus of the University of Auckland and a former participant of the Velocity entrepreneurship development programme, run by the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE). Graeme had previously worked at NZ Plant and Food Research before moving on to complete an MBA at Stanford and a leadership role at a therapeutics company in San Francisco.

Reflecting on his time at the University of Auckland, he says that his experiences with the Velocity entrepreneurship development programme, Liggins and Chiasma were formative. “I was able to explore how entrepreneurial ventures seek to convert knowledge to life improving technology, products, and services. I liked my science but loved how I could build a passionate team to go off on a mission to bring a product derived from science to the world.”

The first gene therapy was approved by the European Union in 2012, after two decades of pioneering research. Graeme says “It’s still very new technology. Like with all forms of drug development, there is a high amount of uncertainty across a multi-year timeline to demonstrate a drug’s safety and efficacy, ultimately leading to its market approval. Unfortunately, the patients we seek to treat do not have the luxury of time. Meeting patients and understanding this provides a team with a focused mission of moving our investigational therapies to patients in the safest and most expedient manner.”

Graeme has personal experience with how impactful illness is, with close family members suffering from rare disease. “Seeing first-hand the impact of a disease on a patient and their family is one of the most motivating experiences and an essential part of drug development. It’s also a source of frustration.”

Graeme is encouraged by the progress already made. “Seeing one of the first therapies that I worked on positively and dramatically begin to transform the live of patients within a matter of weeks – that validation breeds a new form of responsibility to ensure that a therapy continues to make its way to as many patients as possible. We’ve come far in regard to both the science and the talented staff we’d been able to attract. While a lot of the focus is on the product or service you are developing, you’re also building a team to join you on this unique experience.”

Graeme’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is “Think bigger – whether it be an opportunity in front of you or your own personal capability, very rarely do New Zealanders envision how big something could be or how much they could achieve. Change that mindset and back yourself. Also, take action. Take that first step to explore a new idea, talk to a potential customer, get advice, build a prototype, do the experiment. Getting over the initial ‘activation energy’ is how most people fail to advance.”