Circio announces circVec LNP-delivery collaboration with Certest progressing to in vivo testing

• Certest Biotec, S.L. and Circio are collaborating to create and test circVec DNA-LNP formulations for potential therapeutic applications
• Certest´s proprietary ionizable lipids and their optimized LNP formulations have shown impressive delivery specificity to several tissues of interest to Circio, including lung, liver and spleen
• Technical formulation and in vitro analysis of circVec-LNP formulations by Certest have been successful, and the collaboration will now progress to in vivo delivery testing

Oslo, Norway 19 November 2024 – Circio Holding ASA (OSE: CRNA), a biotechnology company developing next generation circular RNA vector technology for gene therapy, today announces that it has entered a collaboration with Certest Biotec, S.L. for formulation of circVec into lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for tissue specific delivery of DNA-vectors to address genetic disease.  

“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” said Dr. Victor Levitsky, CSO of Circio. “Based on these promising findings in vivo, we are now looking for targeted delivery technology that can 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.”

“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.” explained Dr. Juan Martínez Oliván, CSO of Certest Pharma, specialized unit in nucleic acids delivery systems at Certest Biotec. “Our capability to passively target different tissues unlocks the possibility to treat organ-specific diseases. We are very enthusiastic about the joint formulation of Circio’s new approach to circular RNA vector technology with our versatile ionizable lipids, creating a unique LNP-strategy for gene therapy treatment.”

Under the collaboration, Certest has successfully performed packaging and in vitro validation of circVec-LNP formulations targeted for delivery to lung, liver and spleen, with positive technical results. Circio will now test these circVec-LNP formulations in vivo during the next 3-6 months to assess delivery efficiency, expression level and durability. If successful, these experiments can pave the way to development of multiple circVec therapeutic candidates in the field of genetic diseases for both in-house development and partnering.