GRANADA, Spain, March, 3rd, 2017 - nLife Therapeutics S.L., an early-stage biopharmaceutical company developing chemical conjugates technologies, today announced the initiation of a research collaboration aimed at exploring cell-specific targeting of nucleic-acid therapeutics in the central nervous system (CNS) with WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ: WVE), a genetic medicines company focused on developing therapies for patients impacted by rare genetic diseases.
Over the next two years, nLife and WAVE will assess the ability of several chemical moieties to direct distribution and uptake of nucleic acid cargo to specific cell-types within the CNS, including neurons, glia and astrocytes. nLife is developing conjugates of small molecules and oligonucleotides that direct the delivery to specific cells in a selective manner. WAVE's fully integrated platform enables the design and development of stereopure nucleic acid therapeutics, with optimized efficacy, stability, safety, and specificity. Per the agreement, WAVE will fund the research activities at nLife and has the option to license nLife's technology for development and commercialization rights across the WAVE portfolio.
Errol De Souza, Executive Chairman of nLife Therapeutics, said, "By combining WAVE's stereopure molecules with our targeted delivery technology, we believe it will be possible to address genetic diseases that were previously not accessible and potentially expand development of safe and effective treatments for a host of CNS disorders."
"Following promising broad distribution of our existing CNS programs, and as we expand our portfolio into additional neurological disorders, we are exploring the ability of various technologies to selectively target certain cell types. This collaboration reflects WAVE's long-term commitment to neurology and we expect will complement our oligonucleotide expertise within the CNS space" said Paul Bolno, M.D., MBA, President, and Chief Executive Officer of WAVE Life Sciences. "We are excited to initiate this research collaboration with nLife, a company that we believe is at the forefront of neuronal targeting technologies."
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Media and Investor Contacts:
Investor inquiries - nLife Therapeutics
Andrés Montefeltro - Senior VP, Research Head & Founder
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About nLife Therapeutics and its nucleic acid delivery platform technology
Founded in 2010 and based in Granada (Spain), nLife Therapeutics is leading the development of cell-specific oligonucleotides as therapeutic agents for central nervous system and neuromuscular disorders. Oligonucleotides are short nucleic acid polymers designed to bind to specific complementary messenger RNA strands promoting their degradation, which produces a decrease in the levels of specific proteins that may contribute to diseases when they accumulate. Selective delivery and cell-specific targeting are achieved by attaching small molecule chemical ligands to the oligonucleotide. The conjugated oligonucleotides can be applied to un-druggable target proteins and have potential as a disease-modifying therapy for a broad array of genetic disorders that might otherwise have no viable treatment option.