Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Gary Hudson, CEO & Co-founder of Oisín Biotechnologies:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to your company?
A: Oisín Biotechnologies’ mission is to ameliorate age-related disease. Our first product is a new class of senolytic therapy platform to ablate damaged cells – those cells possessing either the p53 or p16 gene transcription factors. For example, it has been shown that p16-positive senescent cells (SnCs) play a role in many diseases of aging, and that elimination of these cells extends healthspan and lifespan in animals. We are also using our proprietary platform to build a robust pipeline of other therapeutics that address a wide range of age-related disease.
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Q: Any highlights on your recent announcement?
A: While our recent press release was focused on conclusion of our $5m funding round, the real news is that our SENSOlytic® therapy has demonstrated a 20% increase in healthspan in laboratory animals.
Q: Can you give us more insights into your offering?
A: Oisín is taking a radically different approach to senolytic treatment, with broad delivery yet high specificity for killing dysfunctional aged cells. Our SENSOlytic therapy kills SnCs very selectively by initiating apoptosis (programmed cell death) without damaging the surrounding healthy cells or tissue, using our DNA targeting approach. Additionally, Oisín’s Proteo-Lipid Vehicle (PLV) is significantly safer, cost-effective and far more scalable then viral and other lipid delivery systems.
The technology works as follows:
Genetic payloads programmed to selectively produce inducible Caspase-9 (iCasp9) only in target cells.
Plasmid DNA is encapsulated in the company’s patented neutrally-charged PLV. This PLV has shown to be non-toxic in primates at doses well above the expected therapeutic levels in humans.
The PLVs distribute broadly throughout the body and release the DNA into the cells upon contact. Elevated transcription levels, including in p16 positive SnCs cells, triggers programmed cell death with no observable effect in healthy cells.
Q: What can we expect from your company in next 6 months? What are your plans?
A: We are preparing for human trials now. Preliminary toxicology studies have been completed in mice, dogs and primates and will be repeated in GLP (Good Laboratory practice, necessary for regulatory approval) shortly. Finally, Phase1/2 human trials are expected begin in 2022 to validate preclinical results in patients, for both cancer and aging-associated diseases.
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Q: What is a great thing about your company that people might not know about?
A: Though Oisín’s first products are aimed at ablating SnCs, our ultimate purpose is to use our platform technology to address a broad range of the maladies caused by aging.
