Primrose Bio Awarded NIH Grant to Develop Genetic Medicine Drug Design Technology

$2 million grant builds on research to develop sequence elements that improve DNA- and RNA-based medicine efficacy

SAN DIEGO, July 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Primrose Bio, Inc., a company with proprietary biologic manufacturing technologies, today announced a $2 million, 24-month Direct-to-Phase II Small Business Innovation Research award from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The project will develop synthetic noncoding sequence elements designed to increase and prolong protein expression from DNA- and RNA-based medicines.

Primrose Bio will use its proprietary ultra-high-throughput platform to screen billions of sequences, validate in cell models and apply proprietary AI-design optimization to create licensable sequence elements for DNA- and RNA-based medicines. The project is led by Patrik Engström, Ph.D., and builds upon foundational research into sequence design elements that significantly improved protein expression.

"This award builds on Primrose Bio's track record of bringing enabling technologies into commercial use," said Drew Burch, Chief Executive Officer of Primrose Bio. "It expands the sequence-based tools we can offer partners to improve the performance of genetic medicines."

"Noncoding sequences are critical control points for protein expression," said Patrik Engström, Ph.D., Principal Investigator and Principal Scientist at Primrose Bio. "Our platform can evaluate billions of candidates and identify those with the greatest potential. This funding will help us optimize and validate them for therapeutic use."

The project is titled "Enhanced nucleic acid therapeutics: synthetic sequence elements for boosting protein expression in genetic medicines." The NIH award number is 1R44TR006096-01.

ABOUT PRIMROSE BIO

Primrose Bio is focused on developing and commercializing its validated technologies that address industry gaps in production systems and deliver scalable, efficient manufacturing solutions. Primrose's major offerings include Pfenex Expression Technology®: a proprietary production system used in six approved products with up to 20x higher yields and unparalleled success in supporting a broad range of protein modalities; Prima RNApols®: improved enzymes for mRNA manufacturing; and PeliCRM197®: a commercially validated CRM197 carrier protein used for conjugate vaccines. Several of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies use Primrose's technologies in marketed products, including Merck, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Alvogen, and Serum Institute of India. For more information, please visit: www.primrosebio.com.

NIH FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Research mentioned in this press release was supported by NCATS of NIH under Award Number 1R44TR006096. Of the currently awarded project costs, 100% is financed with federal funds and 0% is financed by nongovernmental sources. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIH.

SOURCE Primrose Bio