Press Release

ARIZ Precision Medicine and NATA announce collaboration

21 November 2024

ARIZ Precision Medicine and NATA announce collaboration to accelerate the development of multiple targeted nucleic acid therapies for cancer treatment. 

HARWELL, OXFORD, UK and DAVIS CALIFORNIA — 21 NOVEMBER 2024 — The pioneering precision medicine company, ARIZ Precision Medicine (ARIZ), and the Medical Research Council’s Nucleic Acid Therapy Accelerator (NATA), today announced a collaboration to harness their platforms to develop nucleic acid therapy (NAT) drug candidates for novel gene targets with strong genetic associations to leading cancers. The collaboration combines NATA’s expertise in NAT design and optimisation with ARIZ’s lead RNAi compound, which is being developed to treat a range of cancers.  

ARIZ is using RNAi to treat cancers by targeting an over-expressed truncated oncoprotein known as PRDM2, which is mis-regulated in almost 75% of lung cancer patients.  ARIZ has developed an aptamer-guided calcium phosphate nanoparticle for delivery in vivo, which is delivered specifically to cancer cells. The lead compound has been shown to kill 90% of cancer cells in vitro and inhibit tumour growth by 80% in a xenograft mouse model.  ARIZ and NATA aim to develop direct conjugates between ARIZ’s DNA aptamer and siRNAs through NATA’s linker technology, to explore different delivery options that could target several types of cancers.

NATA brings a clear development path for our lead compound and offers the potential to accelerate development of our broad portfolio of multiple PRDM-targeted nucleic acid therapies”, said Brad Niles, CEO of ARIZ.

“We are excited to be working with ARIZ, bringing together world-renowned experts in epigenetic cancer targeting, and optimised design of nucleic acid therapies.”, said Professor Nick Lench, Executive Director, NATA. 

Click here for more information on ARIZ Precision Medicine. 

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