Paving the way for targeted treatments, the collaboration aims to help realize the full potential of precision healthcare.
N4 Pharma, the specialist pharmaceutical company developing Nuvec®, a novel delivery system designed to carry nucleotides to be developed as cancer treatments and vaccines, has entered into a research agreement with SRI to combine Nuvec with SRl’s proprietary FOX Three Molecular Guidance System™ (MGS) with the aim of co-marketing the combined technology.
The companies will collaborate to perform research to conjugate SRl’s MGS system to Nuvec in order to increase intracellular delivery to specific cells. On the back of the combined technology, N4 Pharma and SRI will develop and pursue new business opportunities.
SRl’s MGS technology is designed to overcome cellular barriers that prevent intracellular delivery of large molecule biotherapeutics. The system uses proprietary technology that enables the delivery of macromolecular payloads to the target cell and then on to subcellular locations within those cells.
Precision medicine targeting
SRI has demonstrated that its MGS can deliver more than a dozen types of payloads including functional enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids (including siRNA, ASOs, and DNA), liposomes, nanoparticles, and intracellular molecular-target locations previously considered unreachable, and therefore, untreatable.
“This marks an exciting journey towards expanding treatment possibilities and transforming the landscape of biomedicine.” — Kathlynn Brown
N4 Pharma’s silica nanoparticle Nuvec has an irregular surface structure that simply and effectively traps and protects the siRNA, RNA, and DNA to help delivery to the cell membrane. Once inside the cell, the siRNA/RNA/DNA is released to enter the cellular machinery, resulting in the desired pathway response, including protein silencing, protein transcription, or other immuno-response. The combined technology holds the potential to target specific cells, offer effective treatments, and help realize the full potential of precision healthcare.
“We’re excited to work with N4 Pharma to advance nucleic acid therapies and expand the number of applications of their Nuvec nanoparticle technology using the FOX Three Platform,” said Kathlynn Brown, president of SRl’s biosciences division.
Expanding treatment possibilities
The key properties of Nuvec, including preventing enzymatic breakdown of nucleotides and large surface area allowing multiple copy number of cargo, together with the targeting provided by MGS, may significantly enhance the use of nucleotide therapies, Brown said.
“This strategic partnership marks an exciting journey toward expanding treatment possibilities and transforming the landscape of biomedicine,” she said.
“We are delighted to work with SRI,” said Nigel Theobald, Chief Executive Officer of N4 Pharma. “Combining our technologies successfully will lead to working with major pharma companies in the fields of oncology and vaccines with the exciting potential to develop novel products.”
