Protalix BioTherapeutics and Secarna Pharmaceuticals have entered into a collaboration and option agreement. Under this agreement, the companies have agreed to partner in the discovery of novel antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapies against multiple targets for rare renal indications.
As part of the collaboration, Protalix has selected pharmaceutical targets with fundamental biological roles in rare renal indications and Secarna will apply OligoCreator®, its proprietary AI-empowered oligonucleotide discovery and development platform, to design and profile ASO candidates against those targets. By jointly applying their research and development expertise, it is the Companies' goal to advance the programs from preclinical stage to clinical trials. Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, Secarna grants Protalix an option to an exclusive, worldwide milestone and royalty bearing license to further develop, market and commercialize therapeutic programs.
"This collaboration represents our first expansion into the rare kidney disease space leveraging RNA technologies, demonstrating the implementation of our previously updated research strategy," said Dror Bashan, Protalix's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We have started to leverage our development experience to increase our footprint as a rare disease therapeutics company. Secarna has established itself as a high-quality, innovative partner in the oligonucleotide field, and we are pleased to join forces to explore new biological pathways and advance promising targets toward clinical development, addressing significant unmet medical needs."
"We are truly excited to collaborate with Protalix, a company with a strong track record in developing and bringing therapies for rare diseases to the market," said Konstantin Petropoulos, Ph.D., Secarna Pharmaceuticals' Chief Executive Officer. "This collaboration combines Secarna's proven expertise in rapidly generating high-quality antisense candidates with Protalix's deep expertise in advancing programs to patients worldwide. Together, we aim to bring forward precise and differentiated oligonucleotide therapies for people affected by severe kidney disorders."
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