Secarna Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company, has signed an agreement with Scenic Biotech B.V., a pioneer in modifier therapies for severe genetic diseases, covering the discovery and co-development of oligonucleotides against a novel target identified and validated by Scenic Biotech’s proprietary Cell-Seq platform.

Secarna will lead the oligonucleotide discovery part of the collaboration, bringing OligoCreator, its proprietary AI-empowered oligonucleotide discovery and development platform, to the co-development. OligoCreator has been shown to greatly expedite the drug discovery process, from target selection to therapeutic development, identifying and characterizing potentially safe and efficacious therapeutic candidates faster. Within the collaboration, Secarna will utilize its platform to identify promising candidates, while Scenic will add its expertise on target and disease biology. 

“We are really excited to collaborate with Scenic to develop first-in-class disease-modifying oligonucleotide therapies for severe genetic diseases. We were drawn together because both companies are working to tackle challenging-to-treat diseases in new ways, and we saw much synergy between our technologies and experience,” said Konstantin Petropoulos, PhD, CEO of Secarna Pharmaceuticals. “From selecting the best target with the input of Scenic’s Cell-Seq platform to discovering the best oligonucleotide therapeutic candidates with Secarna’s OligoCreator technology, we look forward to breaking new ground to jointly develop novel treatment options for patients in need.”