Novartis has bought Vedere Bio, a retinal disease therapy spinout of UC Berkeley also exploiting UPenn research, to expand its gene medicine capabilities.

Vedere Bio, a Switzerland-based genetic retinal disease therapy spinout of University of California, Berkeley, was acquired by pharmaceutical firm Novartis for up to $280m today.
The amount includes a $150m upfront payment in addition to as much as $130m in milestone payments.
Founded in 2019, Vedere Bio is developing gene therapies for inherited retinal dystrophies, a group of genetic disorders that gradually cause blindness from birth through to late-middle age.
Vedere hopes to prevent and reverse vision…