Gyroscope Therapeutics merges with Orbit Biomedical creating a leading retinal gene therapy company

Gyroscope Therapeutics (Gyroscope), a biotechnology company developing gene therapies for retinal diseases, announces its merger with Orbit Biomedical (Orbit), a medical device company focused on the precise and targeted delivery of gene and cell therapies into the retina. Under the Gyroscope name, the organization will become the first fully- integrated retinal gene therapy company with clinical, manufacturing and delivery capabilities. As it enters the next phase of growth towards bringing medicines to patients, Gyroscope will be led by newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, Khurem Farooq. Prior to joining the company, Khurem was the Senior Vice President of the Immunology and Ophthalmology business unit at Genentech and responsible for managing the commercial success of Lucentis and the pre-launch activities for lampalizumab for age-related macular degeneration. Khurem Farooq, Chief Executive Officer of Gyroscope Therapeutics, said: “It is an exciting time to join Gyroscope with our first clinical study in patients with geographic atrophy due to dry AMD underway. By joining forces with Orbit, we can combine our expertise in developing gene therapies and our high-quality manufacturing processes with a surgical platform that can support accurate, safe and consistent delivery of medicines that will hopefully cure eye diseases that today leave people blind.”