Countdown to SLAS Europe: Nanovery Ltd.

RNA medicines have been en vogue since mRNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that they are safe and effective, can be scaled easily, and be developed in record time. Between 2020 and 2021, the class of preventive mRNA vaccines alone triggered an 11-fold increase in M&A activity. However, the potential of non-protein-coding RNAs is potentially higher due to its unique capability to tap into a target universe that appears ‘undruggable’ for other biologics. And they can do so by simply changing the nucleotide sequence of the RNA involved – without having to change the manufacturing process, as is the case with biologics. No wonder that analytical tools are growing with the emerging pipeline of antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), RNA interference approaches, RNA aptamers and RNA editors such as CRISPR. RNA analytics is the unique selling point of Nanovery Ltd, a Newcastle-based startup that just closed bridging finance amounting to £1.66m to reach key commercial milestones towards Series A funding.

Nanovery Ltd has developed Nucleic Acid Nanorobotics (NANs), a patented platform designed to accurately assay natural and synthetic nucleic acids for applications in drug development and diagnostics. The company is currently focused on enabling pharmacokinetic bioanalysis of RNA-targeting therapeutics, such as ASOs and siRNAs, where there is a growing need for highly sensitive and reliable analytical tools to support this rapidly expanding class of drugs. Both markets are expanding rapidly.

“We are a data driven company using DNA nanotechnology and AI to scale up testing of nucleic acids for powerful insights from valuable samples, says Jurek Kozyra, CEO of Nanovery, who co-founded the company with Roma Galloway, COO.

According to Galloway, NANs are nanodevices that are built from synthetic DNA and delivered as a liquid reagent. When applied to biological samples, the NANs generate a fluorescence signal that can be read using a standard plate reader, allowing the platform to scale from small to large-scale studies using automation. Unlike traditional sensitive methods, the NANs system is enzyme-free and works directly on samples, eliminating the need for nucleic acid extraction and reducing variability. It also supports a wide variety of chemically modified therapeutic sequences within a single assay, offering exceptional flexibility for early-stage development work.

Nanovery has successfully piloted its technology with two of the world’s top ten pharmaceutical companies and is now expanding its reach to serve specialised biotech and pharma companies developing ASOs and siRNAs. As part of SLAS, the company is exhibiting as an Innovation Avenue award winner and will also be participating in the SLAS Ignite competition  and the New Product Launch programme  for their products trASO® and trasiR®.