Improved drug delivery inside cells

Drug delivery company Phylogica (ASX:PYC) has announced the improved delivery of antisense oligonucleotide drugs inside cells, following a collaboration with researchers from Murdoch University. Antisense oligonucleotides work by binding to the genetic message (mRNA) and editing mutated regions that cause disease.

Conducted with Professors Sue Fletcher and Stephen Wilton from Murdoch’s Centre for Comparative Genomics, the studies assessed the Phylogica peptide known as a cell-penetrating Phylomer (CPP). Phylogica has now confirmed that the CPP significantly enhanced intracellular delivery of the drug relative to a control oligonucleotide that was not linked to the CPP. Similar outcomes were achieved when the drug was delivered into cultured human cells and also using a mouse animal model.

“This study further validates our cell-penetrating Phylomers for their ability to deliver different therapeutic cargoes inside cells more safely and with greater efficiencies,” said Phylogica CEO Dr Richard Hopkins. “We’ve now shown we can deliver a whole new class of drug that has the potential to open up commercial opportunities in the oligonucleotide field, which has seen a significant resurgence over recent years.”

Based on the successful outcome to the pilot studies, the collaboration is being expanded to focus on development of more effective treatments for Duchene muscular dystrophy (DMD), targeting the genetic mutations underlying DMD in cell and animal models of disease.

A further study aim is to determine whether Phylogica’s delivery technology can improve drug activity without compromising drug safety — a challenge the previous generation of cell-penetrating peptides failed to overcome. The company plans to report on the outcome of these studies in the second half of 2016.

Phylogica (ASX:PYC) shares were trading 7.14% higher at $0.015 as of around noon on Wednesday.