Founded in 1998 VIRxSYS Corporation is a privately held biotechnology company with promising and proprietary platform technologies for: (i) lentiviral vectors as a delivery vehicle for genes against certain diseases and for vaccine therapies, and (ii) reprogramming and/or repairing genes to create, increase or change protein expression, resulting in new therapies for serious diseases (i.e. 2nd generation RNA platform). By leveraging these breakthrough technology platforms, VIRxSYS believes it can become a recognized leader in gene-based medicines and vaccines.
The field of gene and RNA therapy holds great promise. However, most of these promises have been unfulfilled due to challenges in developing a delivery system for genetic and therapeutic payloads into targeted cells efficiently, consistently and permanently. VIRxSYS believes it has solved these issues with lentiviral vector technology. The initial vector technology was patented by, and is exclusively licensed from, The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in Baltimore, Maryland. The Company has advanced these patents and has developed and patented additional technology to manufacture and use VIRxSYS’ proprietary lentiviral vectors.
In addition, VIRxSYS has a novel, highly patented, and versatile RNA technology, Spliceosome Mediated RNA Trans-splicing (SMaRT™), which can reprogram and repair gene expression. SMaRT™ is analogous to a genomic word processor which can add or delete letters, correcting a misspelled word or creating an entirely new word which is desired for a situation. SMaRT™ can be used to repair gene transcripts which are defective, or it can be used to introduce new genetic information which is missing from a patient’s genome. It is a very versatile technology with broad potential applications including not only repair, reprogramming and silencing genetic expression, but also 2nd generation antibody therapy (in vivo antibody manufacturing; also referred to as “passive genetic immunization”), induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS) generation, real-time molecular imaging, and discovery genomics and molecular evolution. SMaRT™ technology has been demonstrated in many in vivo proof of principle animal studies for mulitiple diseases. It is currently the foundational technology for VIRxSYS’s preclinical RNA therapy for cardiovascular disease and hemophilia A.
One of the major challenges for RNA-based therapies is the effective and specific delivery of the RNA molecules to the tissues and organs. VIRxSYS believes it has solved the delivery issue with its lentiviral vector delivery system. The Company also is using and developing other viral and non-viral delivery systems to specifically tailor the delivery of the SMaRT™ technology, taking into account the unique biology of each targeted tissue and organ.
The first application of VIRxSYS’ lentiviral vector delivery system was for the investigational product, Lexgenleucel-T, which is being developed for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Phase II clinical trials have been performed in the United States to evaluate Lexgenleucel-T. This product utilizes the first lentiviral vector tested in humans (first-in-class), VRX496™. VRX496™ is designed to stop the effects of HIV, including reducing the patient's viral load and preventing the progression of HIV to AIDS. VIRxSYS is searching for a corporate partner to help advance VRX496™, while initiating follow-on applications for the lentiviral vector technology, including development of an HIV vaccine, VRX1273, and an RNA therapy to increase HDL to combat cardiovascular disease, VRX1243.
VIRxSYS intends to advance the development of each of its therapy programs until such time when collaborating with a partner would expedite commercialization of each respective therapy.
