ASGCT 2025: Addressing Re-Dosing Issues in AAV Gene Therapies

As part of BioPharm International®’s coverage of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans from May 13–17, 2025, Regeneron Senior Principal Scientist Nicholas Giovannone discussed the oral presentation he gave at the meeting, “Successful AAV Vector Re-Administration via Two Distinct B Cell Immunomodulation Strategies in Non-Human Primates.”

This novel approach is not an entirely new concept, Giovannone explained, but the Regeneron team’s work takes several key steps toward defeating the challenges of immunogenicity in adeno-associated virus (AAV)-delivered gene therapies. One such challenge, as the presentation made clear, is in re-dosing.

“It's actually an idea that's been explored in the field, but the way we're approaching it is to understand the fundamental biology and really target the key things that lead to development of an antibody response,” Giovannone says in the interview. “And if we can temporarily block those factors that lead to an antibody response, then we can prevent the formation of long-lived antibodies that would persist and prevent the ability to re-dose.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Giovannone discusses how he tested the strategy with the goal of more effectively blocking AAV neutralizing antibodies and speculated on what might be Regeneron’s next steps for research.

Click the video above to watch the full interview.

Giovannone’s responses were also included in the May edition of Pharmaceutical Technology®’s “Drug Solutions Podcast,” which can be accessed here.

Click here for all of PharmTech Group’s coverage of ASGCT 2025.