4basebio and Italian partner developing new weapon to fight heart disease – Business Weekly

Cambridges 4basebio Plc and Italian company Heqet Therapeutics have formed a joint venture to develop a non-viral vector therapy for cardiac regeneration.

4basebio is a life sciences group focused on exploiting IP in the field of cell and gene therapies and DNA and mRNA vaccines; HeqetvTherapeutics isa Kings College London biotech spin-out developing novel RNAi therapeutics to reverse the damage created by ischemic heart disease.

The new JDA is focused on the development of a non-viral vector, incorporating a proprietary Heqet payload for cardiomyocyte regeneration and treatment of myocardial infarction more broadly.

Heqet recently closed an 8m financing round to progress its development programmes. It is using its proprietary intellectual property to develop therapies which enable heart regeneration and renewal, thereby avoiding scar formation on the heart post myocardial infarction. Such scarring can eventually lead to cardiac dysfunction and failure, despite improvements in medical interventions.

Under the JDA, the companies will evaluate the use of 4basebios Hermes non-viral nanoparticle for the delivery of payloads targeting cardiomyocyte regeneration.

The successful outcome of this project may lead to the proof-of-concept development of a therapy enabling heart regeneration post infarction.

Dr Heikki Lanckriet, CEO and CSO for 4basebio, said: We are delighted to be working with Heqet on this novel therapy approach for heart repair following myocardial infarction. This further demonstrates the flexible application of our Hermes targeted delivery technology within the cell and gene therapy markets.

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4basebio and Italian partner developing new weapon to fight heart disease - Business Weekly