Edinburgh, UK, 7th December 2016 / Sciad Newswire / Synpromics Ltd, the leading synthetic promoter and gene control company, is pleased to expand the research collaboration with Adverum Biotechnologies that began in December 2015. The initial collaboration focused on using Synpromics technology to develop promoters for the treatment of eye diseases, and has yielded promising early results.The new research collaboration announced today, which will be for an initial period of one year, will use Synpromics PromPT™ technology to develop promoters that specifically regulate gene expression in certain types of liver cells. The liver is a major target for gene therapy applications to treat metabolic diseases and where systemic distribution of therapeutic effect is required. It is an ideal organ due to its large size and heavy vascularisation.Dr David Venables, CEO of Synpromics, commented, “We are delighted to have expanded our relationship with Adverum. In the past year we have clearly demonstrated the power of combining our PromPT™ synthetic promoter technology with Adverum’s platform. We are very excited to be extending the relationship into the area of liver cell gene therapy.”

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 Deborah CockerillSciad Communications LtdT: +44 (0)7930 317729E: deborah@sciad.comCorporate Contact: Dr David Venables, CEOSynpromics LtdT: +44 (0)7825 323439E: david.venables@synpromics.com

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About SynpromicsSynpromics is a private company focused on commercialising its proprietary technology in the emerging field of synthetic biology by developing customised synthetic promoters. In August 2015, Synpromics announced a £2.1million investment round led by Calculus Capital, a specialist in Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) funds. The company has partnership deals with a number of gene therapy companies including AGTC, Adverum, and uniQure.Synpromics technology gives biological researchers, developers and manufacturers unprecedented control of gene expression through the ability to create a comprehensive portfolio of man-made DNA sequences. This is a highly disruptive technology as most of the currently used promoters are natural viral or gene specific promoters. Synpromics’ products comprise patented synthetic promoters that are designed to regulate genes in a highly specific manner. For more information see www.synpromics.com.About Adverum BiotechnologiesAdverum is a gene therapy company committed to discovering and developing novel medicines that can offer life-changing benefits to patients living with rare diseases or diseases of the eye who currently have limited or burdensome treatment options. Adverum has a robust pipeline that includes product candidates to treat wet AMD, A1AT deficiency, and hereditary angioedema. Leveraging a next-generation adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based directed evolution platform, the Company generates product candidates designed to provide durable efficacy by inducing sustained expression of a therapeutic protein. Adverum has collaboration agreements with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to research, develop, and commercialize gene therapy products for ophthalmic diseases and Editas Medicine to explore the delivery of genome editing medicines for the treatment of inherited retinal diseases. Adverum has clinical development expertise and core capabilities in vector optimization, process development, manufacturing, and assay development. For more information please visit www.adverum.com.