Serina Therapeutics Licences Small Molecule Continuous Delivery Technology to Pfizer
Clinical biotech company Serina Therapeutics has announced that it has non-exclusively licenced their proprietary small molecule delivery platform in an agreement with Pfizer.
The agreement details that Pfizer can use Serina’s delivery technology, which includes lipid nanoparticle delivery systems for RNA-based therapeutics. The technology, which they call POZ platform, is designed for the targeted delivery of small molecule therapeutics without inducing an unwanted immune response.
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“We are excited about the license to Pfizer for its use of the POZ polymer technology in initial research and development activities,” stated Milton Harris, Executive Board Chair at Serina Therapeutics. “The license agreement represents an important milestone for Serina.”
POZ makes use of a synthetic polymer called poly(2-oxazoline) and hopes to improve upon the limitations of delivery technologies like PEG (polyethylene glycol) such as their immunogenicity and immune response.
Using a cleavable linker, the drug is attached to the side groups of the water-soluble, low-viscosity polymer. The drug is then released in the body by the plasma enzyme butyrylcholinesterase
The company also touts the advantage of continuous delivery made possible by its platform. The frequent need to dose drugs for neurological disorders like Parkinson’s can lead to unhelpful fluctuations in drug exposure.
Regarding Parkinson’s disease, Serina says that there is an unmet need for continuous therapies that provide dopaminergic stimulation. The roller-coaster peaks and troughs in drug exposure can lead to ‘off times’ where patients are unable to perform routine tasks and can induce dyskinesia, or involuntary motor function.
Serina is addressing this unmet need through the development of its therapeutic SER-252 (POZ-apomorphine) for the continuous delivery of apomorphine, an effective dopaminergic Parkinson’s drug. The drug is currently undergoing IND-enabling studies in preparation for clinical trials hoped in Q4 2024.
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