Evox Therapeutics has agreed a research collaboration and option agreement with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Icahn Mount Sinai) in New York, NY, US.
The collaboration will work on developing exosome-encapsulated AAV (exoAAV) vectors as a novel gene delivery technology aimed at improving treatments for heart disease.
Together, Evox and Icahn Mount Sinai are focused on tackling a long-standing challenge in cardiovascular medicine, namely the safe and effective delivery of genetic medicines to cardiomyocytes.
By enhancing the precision of gene delivery to heart muscle cells and evading the immune response, exoAAV technology has the potential to redefine the use of gene therapy in the cardiovascular disease field.
Susmita Sahoo, Associate Professor of Medicine, Cardiology at Icahn Mount Sinai has been exploring the use of exosomes in gene therapy for several years. The agreement between Evox and Icahn Mount Sinai builds on this work by combining Evox’s exosome technology capabilities with Icahn Mount Sinai’s deep understanding of gene delivery and expertise in cardiovascular research and clinical translation.
“This project is a significant step for Evox as it expands the reach of exosome-mediated delivery of genetic medicines to another organ outside of the liver,” said Dr Antonin de Fougerolles, Chief Executive Officer of Evox. “The work done by Dr Sahoo and colleagues has already demonstrated that exosomes can significantly improve the in vivo delivery of AAV gene therapy to cardiomyocytes and could do so even in the presence of high levels of neutralising anti-AAV antibodies, thus offering the possibility of an exosome-mediated gene therapy that could be used to treat all patients irrespective of their immunological status.”
Edited by Diana Spencer, Senior Digital Content Editor, Drug Discovery World
