(RTTNews) - Esperovax, a developer of oral mRNA biologics, and Ginkgo Bioworks (DNA), which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, Thursday announced a partnership to develop circular RNAs for a variety of therapeutic applications.
Initially, Ginkgo and Esperovax would work to develop circRNAs harboring payloads to specifically target colorectal cancer by inducing cell death only in cancerous cells.
CircRNAs represent an emerging, powerful mechanism for delivering therapeutics and vaccines due to their protein-coding potential and improved stability in comparison to their linear mRNA counterparts.
The partnership aims to further exploit circRNAs by developing a novel mechanism to facilitate RNA circularization specifically in colorectal cancer cells. This would result in extended expression of the toxic payload solely in cancer cells, reducing toxicity and resulting side effects from the death of normal cells.
Shares of Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. are currently trading in pre-market at $1.60, up 0.01 or 0.63 percent from the previous close.
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