Circio Partners With Certest Biotec For Gene Therapy Development

Circio Holding ASA, a biotechnology firm focused on developing advanced circular RNA vector technology for gene therapy, has announced a new collaboration with Certest Biotec, S.L. The partnership aims to formulate Circio’s circVec into lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for targeted delivery of DNA vectors to treat genetic diseases.  

“Circio´s powerful 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 payload expression levels vs. standard mRNA-based vector systems. Based on these promising findings in vivo, we are now looking for targeted delivery technology to enable therapeutic application of circVec in specific tissues and diseases of high unmet medical need. We selected Certest as a preferred partner for circVec-LNP formulation due to the impressive tissue specificity demonstrated for their proprietary nanoparticles,” said Dr. Victor Levitsky, CSO of Circio.

Dr Juan Martínez Oliván, CSO of Certest Pharma, a specialized unit in nucleic acids delivery systems at Certest Biotec, said in a statement, “The library of ionizable lipids developed by our team is engineered for a wide range of nucleic acid payloads, exhibiting a great delivery capacity in preclinical studies and allows the production of thermostable LNPs.  Our capability to passively target different tissues unlocks the possibility to treat organ-specific diseases. We are enthusiastic about the joint formulation of Circio’s new circular RNA vector technology approach with our versatile ionizable lipids, creating a unique LNP strategy for gene therapy treatment.”

Certest has successfully packaged and validated the circVec-LNP formulations in vitro, targeting delivery to the lung, liver, and spleen, with promising results. Circio plans to conduct in vivo testing of these formulations over the next 3-6 months to evaluate their efficiency in delivery, expression levels, and durability. If these tests are successful, the results could open the door to developing multiple circVec-based therapies for genetic disorders for internal use and potential partnerships.