Sangamo Therapeutics has stacked up $18 million cash from Eli Lilly in a licensing deal that will let the pharma use the biotech's neurotropic adeno-associated virus capsid in efforts to develop a gene therapy for a central nervous system disease.

Sangamo Therapeutics said on Monday it would regain the rights to its hemophilia A gene therapy following the termination of a co-development agreement with partner Pfizer, sending its shares down 30.3% in extended trading.

Sangamo Therapeutics has identified a shortcut to market for its Fabry disease candidate, aligning with the FDA on a pathway that could slash three years from the time to market and free it from the need to run an additional registrational study. Shares in Sangamo jumped 33% to $1.22 in the wake of the news.

Biogen and Novartis may have walked away from partnerships with Sangamo Therapeutics last year, but that hasn't stopped Roche from seeking out a pact with the biotech to work on intravenous genomic medicines for neurodegenerative diseases. 

Rani Therapeutics and Sangamo Therapeutics have become the latest biotechs to significantly shrink their workforces in order to eke out cash to survive another year.

California-based Rani will lose a quarter of employees as part of a package of measures to extend its cash runway long enough to see top-line results for a phase 2 trial of a teriparatide-containing pill for osteoporosis called RT-102 alongside a phase 1 study of RT-111, a biosimilar of Johnson & Johnson’s Crohn's disease drug Stelara.

Sangamo Therapeutics will reduce its workforce by 27%, announcing Wednesday plans to trim its research and stop certain manufacturing operations in an effort to redirect resources toward a narrower slate of programs.

Sangamo Therapeutics lost two powerhouse partners Friday after it reported that both Novartis and Biogen discontinued their partnerships studying gene regulation therapies in the neurology space.

Another of Pfizer's gene therapies has been freed from an FDA clinical hold, but the study is not set to get underway immediately.

The FDA lifted its clinical hold of a phase 3 study called Affine for the hemophilia A gene therapy giroctocogene fitelparvovec in March. But Pfizer is maintaining a voluntary pause and will resume clinical activities in a few months, the company said during first quarter earnings Tuesday.

Sanofi has ended a long-running alliance with Sangamo Therapeutics to develop genetic medicines for inherited blood disorders, among them an experimental sickle cell disease therapy that is in early clinical testing.