Sio Gene Therapies hits record low as co scraps Parkinson's disease program

Sio Gene Therapies

01/02/2022 15:27

** Sio Gene Therapies Inc's shares  SIOX.O  hit record low
of 88 cents in morning trade; now down 18% at nearly 96 cents
    ** Brokerage SVB Leerink downgrades rating on SIOX to
"market perform" from "outperform" and cuts PT to $1 from $6 on
discontinuation of lentiviral gene therapy program for treatment
of Parkinson's disease and resignation of CEO Pavan Cheruvu
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nGNX8ykrzC
    ** SVB says it saw the Parkinson's disease gene therapy
program as "the single largest market opportunity in the
company's pipeline"
    ** SIOX said late on Monday it would now focus on two other
gene therapy programs against Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff diseases,
genetic diseases which cause a progressive deterioration of
nerve cells 
    ** Brokerage adds it sees a challenge for the company to
produce value-generating clinical data from the two programs
rapidly enough to bolster its balance sheet
    ** Up to Monday's close, stock had fallen 9% YTD and had
slumped nearly 54% in 2021

 (Reporting by Leroy Leo)
 ((Leroy.Dsouza@thomsonreuters.com;))