RenBio Announces New Awards to Support Continued Development of Its Novel, DNA-Based MYO Technology™ Platform for Antiviral Applications

$2.9 Million Received From Wellcome for DNA-Based Delivery of Antiviral Antibodies for Zika and Influenza Prevention, Focusing on Preclinical Development of a Potent Anti-Zika Antibody and Optimizing Antibody Cocktail Delivery

$749,000 Contract from the BARDA Flexible and Strategic Therapeutics (FASTx) Program for DNA-Based Delivery of Anti-Influenza Antibodies to Large Animals, With an Emphasis on Understanding Correlates of Species Translation

NEW YORK, July 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- RenBio, a privately-held, preclinical biotechnology company leveraging its novel, proprietary MYO (Make Your Own) Technology™ platform to deliver next-generation antibody and protein medicines in the form of DNA therapeutics, today announced that it has received funding to evaluate DNA-based delivery of antiviral antibodies for Zika and influenza prevention. The funding includes a $2.9 million award from Wellcome (https://wellcome.org/grant-funding) and a $749,000 contract award wholly supported by federal funds from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under contract number 75A50124C00017 (https://medicalcountermeasures.gov/barda/cbrn/antivirals-antitoxins/fastx).

The BARDA award is part of the Flexible and Strategic Therapeutics (FASTx) Program, which seeks to advance a robust arsenal of flexible and adaptable therapeutic platforms to efficiently mitigate the impact of viral diseases and safeguard public health in the face of unpredictable viral threats.

"These two awards are significant and boost the potential of our proprietary MYO Technology platform to deliver next-generation DNA medicines for infectious disease prevention," stated Rachel A. Liberatore, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of RenBio. "The work funded by Wellcome will complement our previously announced grant as a sub-awardee of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, under the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)'s Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) program. Together, in collaboration with our academic partners, we will complete IND-enabling preclinical activities to support the development of a potent anti-Zika antibody. In addition, we will evaluate the potential for the DNA-based delivery of cocktails of anti-influenza antibodies to increase the breadth of protection from disease.

"Likewise, the ability to collaborate with BARDA, for the first time, is a milestone achievement for RenBio. The contract will allow us to address some of the technical hurdles to scaling our disruptive MYO Technology, and will help to expand our platform with respect to the range of antibodies that can be delivered, using the delivery of anti-influenza antibodies as proof-of-concept. Importantly, the delivery of a variety of antibodies targeting seasonal and highly pathogenic influenza viruses will address the need to respond rapidly to diverse viruses."

About MYO Technology™

The MYO Technology™ platform, for intramuscular electroporation of plasmid DNA, is built to overcome the challenges inherent in typical antibody and protein therapeutic development, manufacturing, and delivery by providing patients with a DNA "bioblueprint" that empowers them to produce their own therapeutic antibodies or proteins. The technology utilizes muscle cells (myocytes), converting them into in vivo bioreactors to effectively produce the desired therapeutic within the patient's own body, potentially leading to radically new, longer lasting therapies, reducing the need for cold-chain storage, and resulting in shorter manufacturing times.

About RenBio

RenBio is a privately-held preclinical biotechnology company founded by Columbia University Professors David D. Ho, M.D. and Yaoxing Huang, Ph.D. The Company's novel, next-generation, proprietary nucleic acid therapeutics platform, called MYO (Make Your Own) Technology™, is designed to deliver DNA medicines encoding for antibody and protein therapeutics. The rapid plug-and-play features of the MYO Technology are intended to overcome antibody and protein therapeutic limitations in administration, duration of efficacy, dosing frequency, and cold-chain restrictions, and can rapidly flex to prevent or treat a broad range of diseases. To date, the company has raised $28.0 million in Seed and Series A financing and has received additional funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the New York State Biodefense Commercialization Fund, Wellcome, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). For more information, visit: https://www.renbio.com/.

Approved for Public Release by DARPA, Distribution Unlimited

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SOURCE RenBio