Circular RNA (circRNA) is not a new concept, but it is a novel strategy in the field of gene and cell therapy. While mRNA vaccines have revolutionized medicine, this RNA fragment without free ends surpasses their performance in both efficacy and durability, bringing it to the attention of several pioneering companies. The latest advances in circRNA presented at the 29th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) clearly surpass the performance achieved with linear mRNA.
There is increasing interest in developing precision immunotherapies that target tumors but with minimal impact on healthy tissues. IL-12 is a potent immunostimulatory cytokine that has shown effective antitumoral activity in the preclinical setting, but its systemic delivery may be accompanied by off-target effects.
Strand Therapeutics Inc. has received IND clearance from the FDA to initiate a first-in-human phase I trial of STX-001 as a new approach for the treatment of solid tumors.
By combining synthetic biology and RNA therapy, the team at startup Strand Therapeutics Inc. hopes to make mRNA therapy more effective. Strand recently announced an immuno-oncology deal with Beigene Ltd. that netted the company $5 million to begin with and could end up being worth more than $250 million. Beyond immuno-oncology, the company’s basic technology could be broadly useful for both mRNA- and cell-based therapies.
