Partnership to identify target Peptides

Start-up SanegeneBio Inc, focused on developing novel RNAi-based medicines has entered into a Master Service Agreement with Orbit Discovery (Oxford UK), a leader in the discovery of therapeutic peptide hits. The collaboration is focused on identifying tissue-specific delivery of a wide range of RNA therapeutics with potential to knock down disease-causing genes.

The agreement, covering activities ranging from hit ID to cell-based internalisation studies, has an option for Sanegene to further develop hits resulting from screening activities with a view to product development..  

Dr. Neil Butt, Chief Executive Officer of Orbit Discovery, commented: “Sanegene has established an incredible ability to screen for RNAi molecules in a robust and efficient manner. We are delighted to leverage the speed and performance of the Orbit platform to enable Sanegene to generate specific targeting peptides.

“Our aim is to make screening more relevant to the final biological read-outs, to ensure the right leads are selected first time, every time. This has the end goal of enabling the generation of future therapeutics with low toxicity and tissue specificity and ultimately safer and more effective medicines.”

Dr. Weimin Wang, Chief Executive Officer of SanegeneBio, said: “We selected Orbit as our discovery partner because of the team’s experience in overcoming peptide screening challenges alongside an industry-leading platform. We are confident that the combination of Orbit’s peptide discovery capabilities and our expertise in RNAi drug discovery and development will facilitate the accelerated entry of our therapeutics portfolio into the clinic.”

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