Image credit: Flash Therapeutics)
Biotech company Vectalys has merged with FlashCell, a developer of non-integrating lentiviral delivered RNA treatments, to form Flash Therapeutics, a new privately held company developing gene and cell therapeutics.
Flash Therapeutics intends to advance the development of novel RNA therapeutics based on LentiFlash, a proprietary non-integrative lentiviral delivery technology for incurable diseases. In addition, worldwide contract development and manufacturing support from discovery through GMP production will be offered for clients developing lentivirally-delivered RNA and DNA treatments.
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“Lentivirus is a genus of the Retroviridae family, characterized by a long incubation period. Lentiviruses can deliver a significant amount of genetic information into the DNA of the host cell, so they are one of the most efficient methods of a gene delivery vector. HIV, SIV, and FIV are all examples of lentiviruses.” — Gene Therapy Net
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LentiFlash technology was developed to deliver RNA into cells with high efficiency for short-term expression without integrating genetic material into the host cells’ genome, according to Flash Therapeutics. Conventional lentiviral vectors deliver DNA that integrates into the target cells’ genome and results in stable expression. LentiFlash has demonstrated potential to expand the use of lentiviral delivery along with advanced technologies (e.g., gene editing, next generation immunotherapy) that may not be compatible with conventional lentiviral vectors used as therapeutics.
“Flash Therapeutics capitalizes on both the emergence of gene and cell therapies as major new therapeutic modalities for the treatment of genetic and other previously untreatable diseases, and of lentiviral vectors as a commercially and medically validated approach to gene delivery,” said Pascale Bouillé, Ph.D., CEO of Flash Therapeutics. “Our new company is positioned to build on the lentiviral development and production technologies Vectalys developed and applied over the past 13 years, and to advance a new class of RNA therapies based on its transient, non-integrating lentiviral technology, LentiFlash.”
Bouillé added that the company initially is developing RNA therapeutics based on LentiFlash in the areas of blood and liver diseases, and that it plans to collaborate with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to develop RNA therapies in other disease areas.
The company’s lentiviral development and production business will continue to operate under the Vectalys manufacturing platform name and expand as part of Flash Therapeutics to include scalable GMP manufacturing capabilities. The GMP facility, which is expected to become fully operational in 2019, is being established through a recently signed, three-year partnership with Hospital Saint-Louis, Lariboisière, Fernand-Widal (Assistance Public Hospitals of Paris AP- HP) to develop and produce gene and cell therapy drugs. Vectalys has existing distribution relationships with Takara Bio worldwide for prefabricated particles.
“Our lentiviral development and production technologies, along with LentiFlash, will allow us to participate broadly in the development and commercialization of gene and cell therapy in a wide range of difficult-to-treat diseases,” Bouillé said.
Technical details on LentiFlash technology were described in a 2015 article in Molecular Therapy, Methods & Clinical Development titled: “Highly efficient in vitro and in vivo delivery of functional RNAs using new versatile MS2-chimeric retrovirus-like particles.”
While full financial terms of the merger were not disclosed, Flash Therapeutics received a €3.3 ($3.9) million investment from Auriga Partners, a private equity firm, through its AURIGA IV Bioseed fund; Galia Gestion, a private equity fund based in Bordeaux, France; and two angel investors, Jean-Pierre Arnaud and Alain Sainsot. Auriga and Vectalys were initial investors in FlashCell, which was formally established in 2017.
Flash Therapeutics is based at Canal Biotech II, 3 rue des satellites, 31400 Toulouse, France; www.flashtherapeutics.com; Tel. +33 5 61 28 70 75.
(Source: Flash Therapeutics; Gene Therapy Net)
