Circio, Full Circles Partner on In Vivo Cell Therapy

Editor’s Take: Cell and gene therapies (CGTs) are a diverse category of medications encompassing cell-based immunotherapies, cell therapies, gene therapies, and tissue-engineered products. Learn about the current state of CGT manufacturing, the sector’s biggest challenges, and its future.

Circio Holding ASA, a biotechnology company developing novel circular RNA expression technology for gene and cell therapy, and Full Circles Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company developing non-viral immune-evasive DNA writing platform technology for next generation gene and cell therapy, have entered a research collaboration to evaluate the combination of Circio’s circVec expression technology with Full Circles Therapeutics’ C4DNA – a novel minicircular single-stranded DNA (cssDNA) for in vivo cell therapy.

Currently available cell therapies, such as CAR-T therapy, rely on complex and costly ex vivo manufacturing. Novel approaches focus on creating in vivo CAR-T directly in patients. These depend largely on short-lived mRNA or viral vectors that carry notable safety risks and cannot be re-dosed. Circio and Full Circles Therapeutics have partnered to create a non-viral, non-integrating and immune silent in vivo cell therapy platform, designed to be safe, durable and re-dosable.

“The aim of the collaboration is to develop a joint non-viral delivery solution for next generation gene and cell therapy that is safe for patients, re-dosable and simple to manufacture,” said Dr. Victor Levitsky, CSO of Circio.

A central challenge in non-viral gene therapy is that double-stranded DNA is rapidly detected by the patient’s immune system. This identification triggers severe immune responses and rapid vector elimination. Full Circles Therapeutics minimizes this issue by engineering and production of cssDNA vectors that naturally avoid immune recognition. Under the collaboration, Full Circles Therapeutics will design and manufacture C4DNA vectors that carry circVec inserts. Circio will then assess the delivery and expression of these circVec C4DNA vectors to evaluate their performance and immunogenicity in vitro and in vivo.

“Partnering with Circio will combine two complementary technologies with the potential to address key limitations of current in vivo cell therapy approaches,” said Dr. Howard Wu, co-founder and CSO of Full Circles Therapeutics. “Our C4DNA platform is designed to enable immune-evasive DNA modality with the capacity to deliver extra-larger genetic payloads, while Circio’s circVec technology has demonstrated the potential for increased and durable expression. Together, we aim to develop a differentiated, non-viral platform for in vivo cell engineering that could enable durable and re-dosable therapies while offering the manufacturing and safety advantages of DNA-based delivery.”

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Other recent key partnerships and collaborations from Circio include pacts with Tcelltech, Avenue Biosciences and Acuitas Therapeutics.