Peptirna Therapeutics, a siRNA drug delivery system developer, has secured seed funding from Wow Partners. The investment amount is undisclosed.
siRNA is a new drug candidate based on RNA interference (RNAi) technology, which blocks the production of disease-causing proteins. Unlike existing protein-targeting therapies, siRNA suppresses diseases at the protein production stage. In 2006, Professors Andrew Fire and Craig Mello won the Nobel Prize for this technology.
However, most siRNA companies struggle with drug delivery technologies to target cells, and only a few possess liver cell delivery technology. Peptirna Therapeutics has developed its own peptide-based delivery system, "Pepticellplex," which binds to siRNA and enables delivery to cells other than liver cells. It has also secured technology that enables siRNA to function without degradation within the endosome.
“Peptirna Therapeutics has shown outstanding performance in delivery technology, which has been an obstacle to the spread of existing siRNA therapeutics, and we believe that it has great potential for future growth,” said Tae-Hyun Kim, CEO of Wow Partners, which executed the investment.
Kim Byung-il, CEO of Peptirna Therapeutics, said, “The reason the first siRNA therapeutic was only introduced in 2018 is due to limitations in delivery technology, and Peptir will grow into a global company with technology that overcomes these limitations.”
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