Petach Tikva, Israel, April 23, 2012. PolyPid Ltd., a developer of innovative drug carriers, today announced that it has joined the Rimonim consortium of Israel’s MAGNET program. The consortium’s aim is to promote RNAi-based therapeutics. The Rimonim consortium comprises Israeli biotechnology companies and major universities.
The MAGNET Program, part of the Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor’s Office of the Chief Scientist, sponsors innovative generic industry-oriented technologies to strengthen the country’s technological expertise and enhance competitiveness. MAGNET activities are based on collaboration between companies and academic research groups organized in consortia.
Rimonim focuses on the chemistry and delivery of RNA-based drugs for treating cancer. Due to inherent features of an siRNA-based drug, such as susceptibility to degradation by body fluid and limited ability to reach tumors, efficient delivery systems (drug carriers) are vital necessities for their implementation. PolyPid’s technology has the potential to serve as a platform to carry the RNAi molecules into the cell.
PolyPid enables long-lasting and controlled release of therapeutic drugs. The revolutionary, patented carrier can be tailored to almost any drug – small molecules, peptides, protein and nucleic acids-based drugs such as RNAi based therapeutics. The formulations can be pre-planned in order to achieve the desired release rate of the drug(s) and the optimal duration, which can last up to several months.
“RNAi-based therapeutics has great potential for treating a large variety of diseases, but the delivery issue has to be solved to allow the development of various RNAi-based drugs,” said Dr. Noam Emanuel, PolyPid’s CTO. “PolyPid’s platform has the right features to enable the transformation of RNA into an effective infrastructure for revolutionary drugs, and we are excited about contributing our expertise to this mission.”
About PolyPid
Founded in 2008 and located in Israel, PolyPid is a privately held, development stage company that has developed a platform that enables a controlled and prolonged release of any active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). PolyPid’s technology combines polymers and lipids, enabling small-and-large API entrapment in degradation and hydration protected environments, regardless of their chemical or physical characteristics. PolyPid allows the release of the API from the reservoir at pre-determined rates of up to several months, with a constant release rate. The flexibility of this innovative technology enables local administration of compounds across numerous therapeutic classes for several applications. PolyPid is owned by the founders, private investors and Xenia Venture Capital. For more information about PolyPid, visit www.polypid.com
Contact:
David Kanaan
Kanaan Public Relations
Tel.: +972-54-4255307
e-mail: David@KanaanPR.com
