The group of scientific co-founder Prof. Dr. Dr. Stefan Engelhardt developed a sugar-bound RNA drug that effectively targets macrophages to fight lung damage. This innovation may be key to preventing severe pneumonia after viral infection. The groundbreaking work has been recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Communication. The paper describes the first-in-class mechanism to efficiently target RNA therapeutics to alveolar macrophages and its therapeutic potential.
We were able to show that nucleic acid-based active substances can be used in a very targeted manner in the lungs.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Stefan Engelhardt, scientific co-founder of RNATICS
The clinical translation of this scientific breakthrough is driven by RNATICS, a spin-off from TU Munich, and pre-clinical safety and toxicology studies are currently ongoing. The first clinical trials in humans with the lead compound RCS-21 are planned for 2024.
This technology opens up a wide field for the development of novel RNA-based drugs.
Dr. Deepak Ramanujam, Director of R&D at RNATICS, shared first author
Beck, C., Ramanujam, D., Vaccarello, P., Widenmeyer, F. , Feuerherd, M., Cheng, C.-C., Bomhard, A., Abikeeva, T., Schädler, J., Sperhake, J.-P., Graw, M. , Safi, S., Hoffmann, H., Staab-Weijnitz, C. A., Rad, R., Protzer, U., Frischmuth, T. & Engelhardt, S. “Trimannose-coupled antimiR-21 for macrophage-targeted inhalation treatment of acute inflammatory lung damage”. Nature Commununications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40185-1.