ScionxBio Partners with Sanofi on Extended Exposure Versions of mRNA Candidates

Editor’s Take: Next-generation molecules could provide improvement from traditional mRNA in terms of stability and resistance to enzymatic degradation.

ScionxBio entered a worldwide agreement to develop and commercialize extended exposure versions of certain Sanofi messenger RNA (mRNA) candidates.

The strategic collaboration and licensing agreement leverages ScionxBio’s proprietary Tera platform, uniting it with Sanofi’s mRNA Center of Excellence.

Improving Upon mRNA?

ScionxBio, a brand identity of Eleven Therapeutics following a horizontal split, is a preclinical-stage biotechnology company. They specialize in pioneering next-generation mRNA therapeutics that are distinguished by an extended durability profile.

This is where ScionxBio hopes to move the nascent xRNA modality forward, using the technology for novel, long-acting indications. One major goal of the collaboration is to apply such applications to a variety of potential indications.

ScionxBio Tera Platform

The Tera platform, powered by advanced deep learning architectures, deciphers complex structure-activity relationships within high-throughput combinatorial screens, engineering next-generation molecules. The molecules feature uniquely designed, chemically synthesized regulatory elements providing greater stability and resistance to enzymatic degradation versus traditional mRNA.

In the collaboration, ScionxBio will lead optimization activities up to in-vivo validation stages. Following that, Sanofi assumes responsibility for all remaining preclinical development activities.

Sanofi a Useful Partner

Sanofi will also see candidates through Investigational New Drug-enabling studies, clinical development, manufacturing, and global commercialization.

“This collaboration with Sanofi is a defining milestone for our company,” ScionxBio CEO Adi Gilboa-Geffen, PhD, said. “It validates the revolutionary potential of our AI-driven Tera platform to overcome the historical limitations of mRNA durability. Partnering with a global powerhouse like Sanofi ensures our innovations in therapeutic RNA reach patients … more rapidly than ever.”

Potential disease areas to be covered by this new collaboration are as yet undisclosed.