The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and TransCode Therapeutics Inc. form an alliance to advance TransCode’s pipeline of RNA-targeted oncology therapeutic and diagnostic candidates.
TransCode and MD Anderson scientists will collaborate on preclinical studies to further validate TransCode’s therapeutic and diagnostic candidates.
The results of these studies will inform future clinical trials with these agents, including trials to be led at MD Anderson.
“We can now examine how regulatory RNAs affect signaling, both spatially and temporally, at the single-cell level in tumor cells, immune cells and stem cells—all critical for tumor progression, relapse and immune evasion,” principal investigator Sendurai Mani, professor of translational molecular pathology at MD Anderson, said in a statement. “Our goals in collaborating with TransCode are to gain a deeper understanding of RNA-targeted therapies and to bring innovative new treatment options to our patients.”
The collaboration has the potential to inform multiple clinical programs in TransCode’s pipeline, starting with its lead therapeutic candidate, TTX-MC138, which is designed to treat multiple metastatic cancers.
Future clinical trials will be designed and led by Vivek Subbiah, associate professor of investigational cancer therapeutics at MD Anderson.
Prior to a phase I clinical trial, TTX-MC138 is scheduled to enter a first-in-human phase 0 clinical trial designed to demonstrate its delivery to metastatic lesions in patients with advanced solid tumors.
