Belgian University Spin-Off Company to Join EU Project Developing Nanomedicines

A clinical-stage company that was spun out of the VUB university in Belgium, eTheRNA immunotherapies, has revealed it will be participating in a European Union (EU) research project aimed at developing off-the-shelf mRNA nanomedicines.

Project EXPERT is set to receive EUR 14.9 million (US $16.4 million) in funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program over the course of the next five years and will comprise 11 international partners. All those involved with the project will be tasked with the development of novel, off-the-shelf delivery systems for mRNA therapeutics to treat cancer and heart failure.

“Our vision is to clinically develop mRNA therapeutics and to overcome the main production and delivery obstacles mRNA-based therapy approaches are facing on their way to the market,” said Professor Raymond Schiffelers from Universitair Medisch Centrum Utrecht, Netherlands, project coordinator, in a Nov. 13, 2019 press release. “The EXPERT approach could make mRNAs available off-the-shelf enabling their use for more patients and different types of diseases.”

“We are delighted to join EXPERT, which we hope will help mRNA therapeutics realize their true potential and become widely available to patients to treat a broad spectrum of disease conditions,” commented Dr Steven Powell, CEO of eTheRNA. “We can bring our TriMix platform and translational, clinical, and disease area expertise to the project and look forward to collaborating with the other 10 partners.”

Source: eTheRNA