Access signs agreement with major pharma company
To exploit CobaCyte and CobOral RNAi technologies - could lead to a full licensing agreement
Access Pharmaceuticals, a US biopharmaceutical company specialising in treatments for oncology, cancer supportive care and diabetes, has signed a deal with a major pharmaceutical company to exploit its CobaCyte and CobOral technology for the targeted delivery of RNAi therapeutics.
Although the terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, Access Pharmaceuticals said that any successful formulation developed would be jointly owned by both companies and subject to a subsequent full licensing agreement.
‘We have made great progress in our CobOral and CobaCyte siRNA delivery programmes over the past year, demonstrating the efficiency and safe delivery needed for a viable RNAi therapeutic,’ said Jeffrey Davis, president and ceo of Access Pharmaceuticals.
‘The signing of this agreement serves as further validation of our previous work related to our CobaCyte technology's unique ability to deliver inactivated siRNA particles to disease target sites.’
RNAi is usually initiated by the introduction of small fragments of RNA, typically siRNA or miRNA, into cells at disease sites. Due to their large size and high negative charge, these RNA fragments are not able to cross cell membranes. Therefore, to develop effective RNAi therapeutics, a delivery system must be developed that can transport the siRNA into cells, and release undamaged siRNA into target cell cytoplasm. Access Pharmaceuticals’ CobOral and CobaCyte delivery technologies, which are based on vitamin B12, are said to be suitable for this purpose.
