BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nanite Inc. announced today an investment from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of up to $2 million to develop gene delivery technologies for the lung. This investment builds on the $6M seed financing recently announced by the company.
One of the most significant challenges in developing new therapies for patients with cystic fibrosis is effective drug delivery. Polymer nanoparticles (PNPs) are an innovative delivery modality and can offer several advantages over other means of genetic therapy delivery into cells. PNPs may be less likely to trigger an immune response than viruses and lipid nanoparticles and may be more stable and versatile than lipid nanoparticles, which can be more limited in the amount of drug payload released to the cells.
Nanite’s proprietary platform, SAYER™, couples high-throughput synthesis with artificial intelligence (AI), and is designed to rapidly explore a large chemical space to identify the best PNP candidates for genetic material delivery to diverse tissues. With this new funding from the Foundation, Nanite will work on initially developing polymer nanoparticles that can accurately deliver messenger RNA therapies to the lung while potentially better resisting the thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs of patients with CF. Eventually, Nanite hopes to expand these advances to deliver any type of gene therapy and target other organs affected by CF, such as the pancreas.
“We’re thrilled to announce this investment from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which we will use to explore a new way to deliver genetic therapies into the lungs of CF patients,” said Sean Kevlahan, CEO and Co-Founder, Nanite. “Our proprietary SAYER platform combines automated polymer synthesis and high-throughput in vivo screening with AI, allowing the design of programmable polymer nanoparticles to deliver a broad range of genetic cargoes with tissue specificity. We plan to work with additional patient advocacy groups and biotech partners to develop targeted drug delivery vehicles across multiple different indications.”
About Nanite Inc.
Nanite is a next-generation non-viral gene delivery company developing a new class of programmable polymer nanoparticles for a range of modalities and indications. The company’s AI-driven platform, SAYER™, combines cutting-edge high-throughput experimental and computational methods to design fit-for-purpose delivery vehicles delivering a broad range of genetic cargoes with tissue specificity. Nanite is headquartered in Boston, MA. For more information, visit www.nanitebio.com. Follow us on Twitter @nanitebio.
