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SINGAPORE –\u00a0Media
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Nucleic acid therapeutics is an emerging
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Leveraging on both parties’ expertise and
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“Tailoring
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With IMCB’s expertise in the SSO discovery
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“Being the medical hub of Asia, we hope
\nOutReach<\/a>\u00a0– 19 August 2021 –\u00a0KYAN Therapeutics, Inc.
\n(KYAN)<\/a>, a developer of optimised therapeutics, and the Agency of Science,
\nTechnology & Research (A*STAR)’s Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology
\n(IMCB), a premier cell and molecular biology institute, have entered into a collaboration
\nto discover and develop next-generation nucleic acid therapeutics for oncology.
\nThe aim is to develop specific drug combinations that can achieve high clinical
\nresponse rates and elicit durable responses.<\/p>\n
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\nfield of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA)-based therapies
\nthat are able to treat diseases by inducing long lasting effects by targeting
\nthe genes in the genome. This means more effective treatments for diseases such
\nas cancers. In particular, splice-switching oligonucleotides (SSOs), being
\namenable to complete chemical modifications for in vivo<\/i> stability and
\nspecificity, possess superior specificity and lower toxicity than conventional
\nsmall molecule drugs, and exhibit more predictable drug treatment and response
\ncompared to other nucleic acid modalities.<\/p>\n
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\nproprietary platform technologies, the collaboration tackles the challenges in
\nidentifying and prioritising effective drug target combos, and developing
\ntherapeutics that are able to selectively affect a particular type of cells
\nleading to a desirable effect. KYAN brings to the collaboration, proprietary
\ncombination design technology and expertise in cancer therapy, that has been
\nvalidated in humans and across multiple diseases.\u00a0 A team led by Dr Dave Keng Boon Wee, Principal
\nInvestigator, at IMCB, has developed an accurate rational design platform empowering
\nan unprecedented speed of identifying and optimisation of highly specific and
\neffective SSOs, which will be useful to speed up the drug discovery and the
\ndevelopment process. Leveraging IMCB’s extensive experience in optimising SSOs
\nfor high specificity and efficacy leading to clinical translation, IMCB is well
\npositioned to provide clinically ready SSOs for further development.<\/p>\n
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\nthe right drug combinations is key for better patient outcomes. We look forward
\nto working with KYAN to implement the drug target combinations by discovering
\nand developing precise RNA therapeutics,” stated Dr Wee.\u00a0 “This could potentially open up treatment
\navenues for more than 50 per cent of
\ncancer patients that have not responded to existing therapies,
\nleading to better health outcomes. The partnership also helps to solidify
\nSingapore’s position as a global innovation hub.”<\/p>\n
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\nprocess and KYAN’s accurate and efficient computational optimisation platform,
\nthe collaboration has already yielded novel insights into how to develop more
\neffective synthetic lethality treatment approaches. IMCB and KYAN will
\nsynergize their efforts to develop new classes of nucleic acid therapeutics
\ntowards difficult to treat gastrointestinal cancers, beginning with liver
\ncancer. By focusing on cancers with high prevalence in Asia, this collaboration
\nseeks to transform how cancer is treated both in Singapore and abroad.<\/p>\n
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\nthat this collaboration could identify alternative treatment approaches especially
\nfor cancers like liver cancer, which has high prevalence in this region but
\nlimited therapeutic options. Having easy access to liver cancer patient samples
\nin Singapore would aid in stratifying potential patient responders based on the
\nidentified optimal combination of RNA therapeutics” adds Dr Masturah Rashid,
\nHead of Research and Development at KYAN Therapeutics.<\/p>\n
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