Under the collaboration, the company will partner with the MD Anderson scientists on preclinical trials for further validating TransCode’s RNA-targeted oncology therapy and diagnostic candidates.
They will also work to expand the reach of TransCode’s discovery engine.
The data from these studies will provide information regarding the future clinical trials with these agents along with the trials that will be led at MD Anderson.
TransCode co-founder and chief technology officer Zdravka Medarova said: “This strategic alliance offers the opportunity to further unlock the potential of our therapeutic pipeline by combining the promise of our image capable delivery platform and discovery engine with the unique talent and resources found at MD Anderson.”
The company stated that the alliance will also provide information regarding the multiple clinical programmes in its pipeline, starting with TTX-MC138.
TTX-MC138 is TransCode’s lead therapeutic candidate that has been designed for the treatment of multiple metastatic cancers.
The company believes that the drug has potential to produce regression without the disease recurrence in many cancers that include colon cancer, pancreatic, ovarian, breast, glioblastomas and others.
MD Anderson Investigational Cancer Therapeutics associate professor Vivek Subbiah will design and lead the future clinical trials.
MD Anderson Translational Molecular Pathology professor Sendurai Mani said: “RNA-based therapeutics offer exciting possibilities to treat cancer.
“We can now examine how regulatory RNAs affect signalling, both spatially and temporally, at the single-cell level in tumour cells, immune cells and stem cells — all critical for tumour progression, relapse and immune evasion.
“Our goals in collaborating with TransCode are to gain a deeper understanding of RNA-targeted therapies and to bring innovative new treatment options to our patients.”
The TTX-MC138 is planned to enter a first-in-human Phase 0 clinical trial before the Phase I trial.
The Phase 0 clinical trial will demonstrate the delivery of therapy candidate to metastatic lesions in advanced solid tumour patients.