Intrexon recruits two startups with drug delivery applications

Maryland-based platform specialist Intrexon ($XON) is collaborating with two startups associated with its Harvest Intrexon Enterprise Fund. Intrexon focuses on platforms for drug delivery, and the two companies will make use of its proprietary technologies to advance their own therapies.

The first of these, Relieve Genetics, is a startup centered on a breakthrough, non-opioid gene therapy approach for neuropathic pain, substituting symptomatic treatments with those that attack the underlying cause of pain. They will use Intrexon’s RheoSwitch technology to deliver gene regulation by coordinating the timing and dose of an oral activator ligand, according to the company.

"Neuropathic pain is a tremendous unmet need in healthcare today,” said Intrexon Senior Vice President Samuel Broder. “The collaboration with Relieve Genetics offers a significant opportunity to materially impact the lives of many patients who are in desperate need of relief from pain refractory to other therapies including opiates."

And the second company jumping on at Intrexon is Exotech Bio, which will use Intrexon’s exosome-based technology for the delivery of RNA to treat cancer. This is a new one for Intrexon, but it has experience designing vectors and other genetic carriers that can be used for RNA-based candidates.

"Intrexon's work in engineering complex miRNAs holds particular promise for an exosome-based platform to address certain cancers, for which conventional approaches have failed,” Broder said.

Intrexon did not reveal any upfront payments, but under the terms of the exclusive channel collaborations, it will pick up a 25% technology access fee, R&D reimbursement and potential milestones.

- here's the release