Munich/Martinsried, Germany, February 22, 2022 - Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG (“Secarna”), a biopharmaceutical company specializing in next-generation antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapies, has revealed that Denali Therapeutics Inc. (“Denali”) has exercised its option to in-license an ASO program generated by Secarna. This program is a product of their Research Collaboration and Option Agreement and marks Denali's first exercise of an option.

The collaboration between the two companies began in October 2020 and expanded in October 2021 to encompass multiple discovery and research programs aimed at addressing various undisclosed targets and diseases related to the central nervous system (CNS). Under the partnership, Secarna utilizes its proprietary LNAplusTM platform to develop ASO candidates for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Denali then leverages its OTV technology to facilitate the delivery of these ASOs across the blood-brain barrier (BBB).

Alexander Gebauer, M.D., CEO of Secarna Pharmaceuticals, expressed enthusiasm about Denali's decision, stating, "Our collaboration has made great progress in just 16 months, and we have been able to generate high-quality ASO drug candidates with our LNAplusTM platform. Secarna's ASOs combined with Denali's BBB transport delivery technology offer the potential to provide truly novel therapies to people living with a wide range of difficult-to-treat or even currently untreatable neurodegenerative diseases."

With the exercise of this option, Secarna is entitled to receive an option exercise fee and will be eligible for development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties. Denali has secured exclusive rights for the further development and commercialization of this program. Financial details of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Denali's recent achievements in January 2022 demonstrated the potential of its OTV delivery platform in enabling superior biodistribution of ASOs across brain regions, providing superior knockdown of target gene expression across all CNS cell types, and enabling peripheral dosing, a less invasive option compared to direct injections into the brain or cerebral spinal fluid.

Secarna's proprietary drug discovery and development platform, LNAplusTM, have played a pivotal role in generating high-quality ASO drug candidates. The platform includes the powerful proprietary OligofyerTM bioinformatics pipeline, a streamlined, high-efficiency screening process, and target-specific functional assays. Secarna's platform and ASOs have been validated through numerous in-house projects and collaborations.

Secarna Pharmaceuticals, focused on addressing unmet medical needs in various therapeutic areas, is committed to developing highly specific, safe, and efficacious antisense therapies. Denali Therapeutics, on the other hand, is dedicated to advancing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases by engineering delivery across the blood-brain barrier.

Source: https://www.secarna.com/news?view=article&id=169&catid=8