Ixaka, an integrated cell and gene therapy company, has announced an expansion of its IP portfolio to allow various applications for its polymeric targeted nanoparticle (TNP) gene delivery platform across multiple therapeutic areas.
The extended IP enables the development of therapies encapsulating any cargo, the company claims, including mRNA, plasmids and adenovirus associated virus (AAV), and gene editing technologies as well as lentiviral vector-based therapies.
The technology platform enables the targeted nanoparticles to be directed to specific cells allowing beneficial gene transduction to occur within a patient’s body, the company says. Its currently being applied as a gene delivery platform to generate CAR T-cell therapies in vivo for haematological malignancies. The expanded IP is designed to allow a range of cargos to be encapsulated, providing greater flexibility to engineer therapies optimised to specific diseases.
Potential applications include drug delivery for oligonucleotides such as DNA, RNA and siRNA, plasmids, small molecules, and gene editing using tools such as CRISPR–Cas9, zinc finger or megaTALS – enabling the company to broaden its therapeutic pipeline.
Joe Dupere, CEO at Ixaka, said: “This IP agreement further strengthens Ixaka’s rapidly growing IP portfolio, highlighting the pioneering nature and broad potential of our targeted nanoparticle technology. The platform is already showing great potential in generating CAR-T cells in vivo for CD19 blood cancers. With an array of other possible applications, we will now be seeking collaborations for our future pipeline, which could encompass solid tumours, rare genetic disorders, autoimmune diseases, broader immunotherapy applications, gene editing, immunodiagnostics and vaccines."
