Circio Holding ASA inks collaboration agreement with Certest Biotec SL

Norway’s gene therapy circular RNA vector specialist Circio Holding ASA (Oslo) has entered into a collaboration with Spanish Certest Biotec SL about in vivo testing of a new formulation of its RNAse-resistant protein expression vector circVec into lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) that are delivered in a tissue specific way.  According to Dr. Victor Levitsky, CSO of Circio, the company’s “circVec-DNA technology achieves more than six months durability in mouse models on a single intra-muscular injection, with up to 15-fold increase in [nucleic acid] payload expression levels vs. standard mRNA-based vector systems.” With the collaboration, Circio is taking the next step towards targeted delivery of circVec in specific tissues. “We selected Certest as a preferred partner for circVec-LNP formulation due to the impressive tissue specificity demonstrated for their proprietary nanoparticles,” said Levitsky.

Certest Biotec’s pharma department has developed a huge library of ionizable lipids that is engineered for a wide range of nucleic acid payloads that allow the production of thermostable LNPs. “Our capability to passively target different tissues unlocks the possibility to treat organ-specific diseases,” explained Dr. Juan Martínez Oliván, CSO of Certest Pharma. “We are very enthusiastic about the joint formulation of Circio’s new approach to circular RNA vector technology with our versatile ionizable lipids, creating a unique LNP-strategy for gene therapy treatment.” 

After Certest has successfully performed packaging and in vitro validation of circVec-LNP formulations targeted for delivery to lung, liver and spleen, with positive technical results, Circio will now test these circVec-LNP formulations in vivo during the next 3-6 months to assess delivery efficiency, expression level and durability. If successful, these experiments can pave the way to development of multiple circVec therapeutic candidates in the field of genetic diseases for both in-house development and partnering.