Hongene Biotech Reaches exNA Oligonucleotide Technology Licensing Agreement with UMass Chan Medical School
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School is the first and only public academic health sciences center in the Commonwealth. Our mission is to advance the health and well-being of diverse communities across Massachusetts and around the world by leading and innovating in education, research, healthcare delivery, and public service.
Recently, Hongene Biotech and the UMass Chan Medical School (University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School) officially signed a non-exclusive license agreement, under which Hongene Biotech has obtained the authorization to manufacture and supply extended nucleic acid (exNA) monomers and exNA-modified oligonucleotides for scientific research purposes worldwide.
As the core technology of this collaboration, exNA (extended nucleic acid) was co-developed by Drs. Anastasia Khvorova and Ken Yamada, scientists from UMass Chan Medical School. It is a proprietary nucleic acid backbone modification. Its unique chemical structure not only maintains full compatibility with existing small interfering RNA (siRNA) designs, but also significantly extends the durability of oligonucleotide drugs and optimizes their pharmacokinetic properties.
The exNA technology boasts three core advantages: it efficiently stabilizes the structure of oligonucleotide drugs, sustainably maintains their pharmacological activity, and significantly extends their in vivo half-life. This technological breakthrough not only opens up a new path for RNA translational medicine research, but also strongly advances the development of oligonucleotide drugs in the field of extrahepatic indications, holding great promise to reshape the therapeutic landscape of relevant areas!
According to the terms of the agreement, Hongene Biotech will leverage its expertise in phosphoramidite production and oligonucleotide synthesis. Providing exNA phosphoramidites and custom exNA oligonucleotides through standardized product catalogs and customized services.
This collaboration will, on the one hand, further strengthen Hongene Biotech's RNA chemistry product portfolio; on the other hand, it will promote the application of the innovative exNA technology among researchers in academic institutions and biopharmaceutical companies worldwide, supporting their breakthrough research in RNA therapeutic fields such as RNA interference (RNAi), antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), and CRISPR guide RNA (guide RNA)!
With 27 years of in-depth dedication to the nucleic acid field, Hongene Biotech has become a globally trusted supplier of nucleic acid raw materials and a nucleic acid CDMO service provider. We are always committed to providing customers with high-quality, end-to-end support: covering the entire lifecycle from drug discovery to commercialization, including oligonucleotide design, synthesis, analytical testing, and large-scale production, to help customers accelerate their R&D progress.
This collaboration with UMass Chan Medical School is not only a crucial extension of Hongene Biotech's technological layout, but also will drive the development of RNA therapeutics toward the direction of "greater stability and stronger tissue specificity", laying a foundation for the research and development of new-type RNA drugs!
Dr. Ken Yamada, Assistant Professor at UMass Chan Medical School, stated: "We are very pleased to enter into a collaboration with Hongene Biotech to jointly promote the wider application of exNA oligonucleotide technology in serving scientists and research teams around the world. Hongene Biotech's profound professional accumulation in phosphoramidite production and oligonucleotide synthesis will strongly accelerate the application and expansion of exNA technology in RNA translational medicine research, empowering more cutting-edge scientific exploration and innovative breakthroughs!"
David Butler, Chief Technology Officer of Hongene Biotech, stated: "This collaboration fulfills our strategy of bringing next-generation RNA chemistry technologies to the market, while also supporting researchers dedicated to solving the most challenging delivery issues in oligonucleotide drugs. By making the exNA technology accessible to the scientific research community, we aim to accelerate the R&D progress of oligonucleotide drugs targeting extrahepatic indications and find solutions for more unmet clinical needs!"
About Hongene Biotech
With 27 years of in-depth dedication to the nucleic acid field, Hongene Biotech is a professional nucleic acid CDMO and raw material supplier, committed to providing high-quality and high-value products and services. The company has built an integrated industrial chain platform for mRNA CDMO and small nucleic acid drug CDMO, offering customers development and manufacturing services from the preclinical stage to the commercialization stage. Additionally, the company has a phosphoramidite product line with an annual production capacity of 58 tons, as well as raw material production capacity supporting over 10.5 billion doses of mRNA vaccines. The company not only owns nucleic acid drug production bases with a capacity of over one ton, which can meet the manufacturing needs from small-scale trials to commercial launch, but also has independently developed technology platforms such as enzymatic ligation synthesis. These platforms provide more cost-effective and sustainably scalable manufacturing solutions for nucleic acid drugs. The company has established long-term cooperative relationships with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies around the world, supplying raw materials for numerous clinical-stage and commercialized nucleic acid pipelines, and has successfully delivered multiple nucleic acid drug CDMO projects.
Source: Apricot Capital