Orchard Therapeutics' new life-saving gene therapy treats MLD

Working with mission driven founders that strive to change the world drives our team at Albion.

Orchard Therapeutics has developed a life-saving gene therapy drug now available on the NHS to treat patients affected by MLD, which severely damages the brain and nervous system. Orchard Therapeutics, now a NASDQ listed company, was originally part of the UCL Technology Fund, managed by Albion in collaboration with UCL Business.

Orchard CEO and co-founder, Bobby Gaspar, has spent many years as a consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital, while carrying out research into potential life saving therapies. He comments:

Bringing a new medicine to the world that can potentially cure these devastating diseases is incredibly rewarding," he says, adding that it was "a very long journey to develop a medicine like this. 
 

Doctors who specialise in treating MLD say this therapy is a game-changer.

Simon Goldman, Albion's Investment Director on the UCL Technology Fund who worked alongside Bobby and his team in the early days said:

This is terrific news for MLD patients in the UK, who finally have access to a lifetime cure from this fatal disease, and which provides tremendous value to the NHS and to society. We're proud to have been able to support Orchard right from its inception at UCL, along with our partners at UCL Business.

Read the full story on BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-64629680

From the archives our interview with Bobby on scaling a company from UCL lap to IPO and beyond: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDIJvvfGDKE&t=448s