Biogen Ties Up with Mirimus for Neurological Indications, and Other Collaborations

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Biogen, which recently won approval for Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, continues to aim its resources at developing treatments for neurological diseases. This morning, the company entered into a strategic neurological disease collaboration with RNAi therapeutics company, Mirimus.

The two companies will collaborate on the development of RNAi-based therapeutics that target multiple neurological disease indications. However, they have remained mum about which diseases they are going after, declining to disclose the targets in their announcements. 

RNAi is a natural mechanism of gene silencing. The RNAi mechanism operates upstream of protein production by silencing the mRNA that codes for such proteins. That, in turn, prevents the disease-causing proteins from being made. 

While terms of the collaboration between the companies were not disclosed, New York-based Mirimus said it would use its expertise to engineer RNAi-based therapeutics for these undisclosed disease targets. Biogen will assess the therapeutics against those targets to determine their feasibility. 

If the larger pharma company establishes the feasibility of the experimental drugs, the two companies will have the option to usher them into preclinical development.

Prem Premsrirut, co-founder and chief executive officer of Mirimus, said the collaboration with Biogen is an important milestone for the 10-year-old Mirimus. 

“At our core, Mirimus' strength is applying our scientific capabilities to solve complex medical issues, whether that is identifying a new treatment paradigm for a neurological disorder, as in the case with Biogen, or developing a game-changing saliva-based, pooled PCR testing platform to quickly and accurately isolate COVID-19 hotspots before they can become outbreaks. The greater the challenge, the more excited we are at Mirimus,” Premsrirut said in a statement.

Mirimus and Biogen were not the only companies to announce strategic partnerships this morning.

AavantiBio Ties Up with Aldevron

Gene therapy company AavantiBio entered into a partnership with North Dakota-based Aldevron to supply plasmid DNA, allowing the Cambridge, Mass. company to advance its gene transfer therapeutic platform. 

Under terms of the deal, Aldevron will provide plasmids for AavantiBio’s future gene therapy programs, including the company’s neuromuscular and CNS pipeline programs. Aldevron will also provide AavantiBio with plasmid supply materials for Proof-of-Concept studies from the company’s planned vector core facility, which is expected to open later this year. 

Bo Cumbo, president and CEO of AavantiBio, called the collaboration with Aldevron an important milestone for the company. Cumbo said the addition of the Aldevron will advance the company’s pre-clinical and clinical development efforts. He said this also supports the company’s strategic plans to bring “high impact, transformational therapies to patients with rare genetic diseases.”

Exscientia Forges Partnership with China-based GT Apeiron Therapeutics

U.K.-based Exscientia, an artificial intelligence-focused pharmaceutical company, partnered with GT Apeiron Therapeutics to advance the development of small molecule therapeutic candidates aimed at treating aberrant cell cycle-driven cancers. Additionally, the partnership is expected to support the development of a pipeline of CDK novel therapies. 

Exscientia said the latest partnership expands an existing deal between the two companies. It follows the design of multiple selective CDK7 compounds that have demonstrated consistent tumor responses in xenograft models. 

With primary tissue samples from ovarian cancer patients, the CDK7 inhibitors demonstrated enhanced tumor cell cytotoxicity, as well as selectivity over immune cells within the same microenvironment, the company said. 

Mingxi Li, president of GT Apeiron Therapeutics, said the collaboration with Exscientia is a significant step for GT Apeiron and its goal of building a robust pipeline of CDK inhibitors. The partnership will accelerate the company’s early-stage output and moves the company closer to entering the clinic. 

“Apeiron bring a focus and an expertise on the biological basis of multiple cancers and helps us to create better drugs for better outcomes in the clinic and beyond. This collaboration has already proven to be capable of delivering potential drug candidates with promising patient-relevant data, and we look forward to extending that into a portfolio of multiple clinical assets,” Andrew Hopkins, CEO of Exscientia, said in a statement. 

 

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