Stanford spinout forms drug delivery joint venture with Chinese biotech

Stanford University spinout N1 Life has formed a joint venture to further its drug delivery ambitions. The startup is teaming up with Accuredit Therapeutics to create a joint venture, Napoltec, focused on novel drug delivery systems and the progression of drug candidates toward clinical translation.

N1, which was incorporated in 2018, is built on two delivery platforms. One of the platforms enables N1 to conjugate drugs to delivery peptides. The peptide inactivates the drug and protects it from clearance until it reaches the target site, where the linker is cleaved and the payload is released. The approach may improve the pharmacokinetics, safety and efficacy of a range of therapeutic molecules.

The second platform is designed to deliver mRNA and DNA. The ChALRS polymer-based formulation and delivery is a way to get nucleic acids into cells and thereby facilitate approaches such as mRNA vaccines and therapeutics.
 

Accuredit sees promise in the technologies. The Chinese biotech, which set up shop in July 2021 with a focus on intracellular targets, is working internally on gene editing, drug delivery carrier technology and a large-scale industrialization platform. N1 sees the capabilities as complementary to its own.

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“We are greatly impressed by the R&D and CMC capabilities of the Accuredit team led by [founder and CEO Yongzhong Wang], who has extensive experience in drug development and program management. We share the same vision of ‘patient-first’ with Accuredit. With our partnership and cross-functional synergy, we look forward to accelerating the translation of innovative drug delivery technologies from ‘bench to bed’ to truly benefit more patients,” N1 CEO Xiaoyu Zang said in a statement.

The partners identified non-antigen-dependent tumor targeting, tumor tissue and cell penetration and overcoming multidrug resistance as strengths of N1’s drug delivery technologies.