Shares of Adverum Biotechnologies Inc. (ADVM) touched a 2-year high of $14.96 yesterday, and are up a whopping 385 percent year-to-date. The stock was trading around $4.70 when we alerted our premium subscribers to it on January 18, 2018. (Report titled "It's All In The Genes…".

Adverum is a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing therapies to treat ocular and rare diseases.

The Company's lead gene therapy product candidate is ADVM-022, which is administered as a single intravitreal injection for the treatment of wet AMD.

Age-related macular degeneration, or AMD is a common eye condition that causes damage to the macula, a small spot near the center of the retina and the part of the eye needed for sharp, central vision, which lets us see objects that are straight ahead. AMD is a leading cause of vision loss among people age 50 and older. Age, genetics, race and smoking are some of the risk factors for AMD. (Source: National Eye Institute).

There are two types of AMD namely, dry and wet.

In dry age-related macular degeneration, small white or yellowish deposits, called drusen, form on the retina, beneath the macula, causing it to deteriorate or degenerate over time. In wet age-related macular degeneration, abnormal blood vessels under the retina begin to grow toward the macula. Because these new blood vessels are abnormal, they tend to break, bleed, and leak fluid, damaging the macula and causing it to lift up and pull away from its base. (Source: VisionAware).

ADVM-022 is under a phase I study for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), dubbed OPTIC. The study consists of two cohorts.

Enrolment and dosing of patients in the first cohort of the OPTIC study was completed in April of this year. In the first cohort, patients received ADVM-022 at a dose of 6 x 10^11 vg/eye.

The first patient in the second cohort of the trial was dosed in June of this year. The patients in the second cohort will receive ADVM-022 at a dose of 2 x 10^11 vg/eye.

The 24-week primary and secondary outcomes from the first cohort of patients in the OPTIC trial are scheduled to be reported on September 12, 2019.

The Company is also developing gene therapies for A1AT deficiency and hereditary angioedema, both of which are under preclinical testing.

Adverum has collaboration agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to research, develop, and commercialize gene therapy products - AVA-311 and up to 3 undisclosed targets for ophthalmic diseases.

There is also a collaboration agreement between Adverum and Editas Medicines to explore the delivery of genome editing medicines for the treatment of inherited retinal diseases.

ADVM has traded in a range of $2.62 to $14.96 in the last year.

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