Sirnaomics Announces Decision to Spin off RNAimmune to Develop Novel mRNA Therapeutics and Vaccines

GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sirnaomics, Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of RNAi therapeutics, today announced a corporate technology spinoff establishing an independent biopharmaceutical company, RNAimmune, Inc. This new entity is focusing on and specializing in messenger RNA (mRNA) based therapeutics and vaccine development, with exclusively licensed Polypeptide-Lipid Nanoparticle (PLNP) delivery technology and large scale GMP manufacturing knowledge from Sirnaomics, plus a proprietary artificial intelligence Algorithm for Epitope Prediction and Validation (ALEPVA). 

As a clinical stage RNAi therapeutics company, Sirnaomics' proprietary polypeptide-based delivery technology has been validated in various preclinical and clinical settings, for both local and systemic drug administrations, especially the process development know-how for large scale GMP manufacturing of the drug products, with a global exclusive right. Further evaluation and validation of these technologies including PLNP delivery technology with mRNA vaccine and drug product candidates warrant an expansion of the technology into mRNA delivery beyond siRNA drug products, which led to the creation of RNAimmune earlier this year. Sirnaomics is providing RNAimmune with the increased independence and will have the right to retain an equity investment in RNAimmune.

"This is a remarkable development for Sirnaomics, further leveraging our robust technology platform and early-stage product opportunities while maintaining our primary focus on our growing RNAi product clinical pipeline," stated Patrick Lu, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sirnaomics, Inc. "RNAimmune is developing a new class of potentially transformative medicines to treat and prevent diseases caused by protein dysfunction and pathogen infections. We continue to believe that our PLNP delivery technology offers advantages over other approaches, especially for the large-scale manufacture, long term storage and remote transportation. We are excited about the robust mRNA delivery effort underway and the promise of further leveraging Sirnaomics broad RNA technology."

"The decision to spinoff RNAimmune as an independent company is the logical next step to unlock value, which will facilitate the ability of RNAimmune to fund itself primarily from sources outside Sirnaomics. After evaluating a variety of approaches, we have concluded that spinning off our mRNA-based therapeutics platform as an independent company offers Sirnaomics the best opportunity to accelerate the development of this exciting technology while enabling additional value creation for its stakeholders from the intellectual property and proprietary technology assets that we have accumulated over the years," said Allan L. Shaw, Chief Financial Officer, Sirnaomics, Inc.

RNAimmune expects to emerge as one of the leading groups for vaccine development against COVID-19 with unique mRNA vaccine design and effective mRNA delivery, under the leadership of Dong Shen, MD & PhD, founder, president and CEO of RNAimmune.  Dr. Shen has extensive drug development experience in AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, having led projects across multiple therapeutic areas with high unmet medical need. He has held leadership across early and late programs in the areas of infectious disease, oncology and rare disease. Dr. Shen received numerous awards, including Johnson & Johnson's Leadership Award in 2018 and Innovation Award in 2017. He received his PhD in molecular oncology from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and MD from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

About Sirnaomics, Inc.
Sirnaomics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company for discovery and development of RNAi therapeutics, is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, with subsidiaries in Suzhou and Guangzhou, China. The company's mission is to develop novel RNAi therapeutics to alleviate human suffering and advance patient care in areas of high unmet medical need. The guiding principles of the company are: Innovation, Global Vision with a Patient Centered focus. Members of the senior management team have a great deal of combined experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, financial, clinical and business management in both the USA and China. The company is supported by funding from institutional investors and corporate partnerships. Sirnaomics has developed a strong portfolio of intellectual property, a world leading RNAi delivery platform, with an enriched product pipeline. Among its multiple ongoing clinical programs, the company's leading therapeutic compound STP705, has demonstrated recently with a top line therapeutic readout for treatment of Squamous cell carcinoma in situ in a clinical phase 2a study. The company's therapeutic areas of focus include oncology and anti-fibrotic diseases. Learn more at www.sirnaomics.com.

About RNAimmune, Inc.
RNAimmune is a leading biopharmaceutical company in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines. RNAimmune leverages mRNA as a data carrier to instruct the human body to produce its own proteins capable of fighting a wide range of diseases. RNAimmune is a spin-off venture from Sirnaomics, receiving a global exclusive right of the proprietary PLNP technology for mRNA delivery, and proprietary know-how for large scale cGMP production of its mRNA products, possesses an in-house developed proprietary AI algorithm (ALEPVA) for antigen prediction and vaccine design. The company's leading product candidate for mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), and currently is under a collaborative effort with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for evaluation of its anti-COVID-19 activity with animal models. The Company also believes its technology is applicable to a broad range of diseases: the prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza; cancer therapeutics with neoantigen vaccine and antibodies; and rare diseases. The company's headquarters locate in suburban Maryland. Learn more at www.RNAimmune.com.

CONTACT:

Sirnaomics, Inc.
Allan Shaw, CFO
917-741-1856
Sirnaomics, Inc.
[email protected].

Westwicke, an ICR Company
Investors:
Stephanie Carrington
Tel: +1 646 277 1282
Email: [email protected]

Media:  
Mark Corbae
Tel: +1 203 682 8288
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Sirnaomics, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.sirnaomics.com