Transforming Nucleic Acid Delivery from
Bench to Bedside
Fostering collaborations with partners interested in a differentiated and efficacious delivery modality to improve the simplicity, safety, affordability, and scalability of RNA and DNA medicines
About Us
We are thinkers, innovators, engineers, and scientists aiming to address the key problem in nucleic acid medicine… delivery. Drug delivery is our core strength and combined we bring decades of experience across nucleic acid vaccines, therapeutics, and delivery to drive the next frontier of medical innovation.
We are agnostic to stage and therapeutic area, and actively support partners from early-stage startups to established pharmaceutical companies. We aim to address key bottlenecks and uncover new medicines while leveraging our proprietary platforms across the range of RNA and DNA modalities for our partners.
Our Science
Our innovative and proprietary delivery platform (Piezopen) enables localized intracellular delivery of “naked” RNA and DNA devoid of any formulations (i.e., no lipid nanoparticles or viral vectors). By integrating piezoelectric pulses with microneedle electrodes, Piezopen reduces a 40-year old technology into a simple, small, and low-cost form factor never before been achieved while producing superior safety and efficacy.
We are redefining the capabilities of local nucleic acid delivery to enable applications across vaccines, therapeutic proteins, immunotherapies, and dermal gene therapies.
In short, Piezopen offers the efficacy of viral vectors and lipid nanoparticles with the safety, simplicity, cost, and efficiency of a pre-filled syringe.
Our Areas of Focus
Infectious Disease
Vaccines are a powerful modality to protect against infectious diseases, but rely on cost-effective and safe delivery platforms that elicit diversified immune responses. Piezopen triggers robust humoral and cellular immune responses to “naked” RNA and DNA vaccines.
Immuno-Oncology
Personalized neoantigen vaccines have emerged as powerful treatment modalities for cancer. Piezopen could drive robust anti-tumor immunity while simplifying end-to-end translation by eliminating formulations and improving patient tolerability.
Chronic Disease
Many diseases can be managed by protein-based drugs such as antibodies, but suffer from tedious manufacturing, poor durability, and complex administration. Piezopen could enable in situ production of therapeutic proteins to simplify dosing and improve adherence.
Dermatology
Skin diseases impact millions globally with few treatment options. Dermal nucleic acid medicines require localized skin delivery without inflammation or off-target effects. Piezopen enables durable expression with the ability to safely repeat dose “naked” RNA/DNA.
Our Four Guiding Principles
Simplicity
Administration by minimally-trained personnel or self-administered; asset development is as simple as designing nucleic acid payload and administering with device (i.e., no screening formulations)
Safety
Excellent tolerability in humans with superiority to conventional injection; eliminating LNPs and viral vectors could improve reactogenicity and mitigate risk of adverse events
Affordability
Eliminating LNPs and viral vectors enables substantial reductions in CapEx and unit COGS; device costs stand at 1/10,000th vs our competition
Scalability
Potential to reach billions while leveraging existing infrastructure; by delivering “naked” RNA/DNA, could simplify large-scale manufacturing or point-of-care medicine