Vesigen Therapeutics Announces Issuance of U.S. Patent for Broad Applications of ARMMs Technology

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vesigen Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company pioneering a novel extracellular vesicle delivery technology to develop transformative therapeutics, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent No. 10,945,954 entitled "ARRDC1-Mediated Microvesicles (ARMMs) and Uses Thereof". This patent, exclusively licensed to Vesigen from Harvard University, broadly covers many of the drug delivery features of any ARRDC1-mediated microvesicles (ARMMs).

This patent covers ARMMs compositions containing an enzymatic payload. Important enzymes include those needed in enzyme replacement therapy as well as those intended to create a therapeutic function.

"The issuance of this patent has strengthened Vesigen's intellectual property estate and provided us with a vast therapeutic blueprint to enable a robust pipeline of agents for use in CNS, oncology, ocular applications and beyond," said Robert Millman, Co-Founder and CEO of Vesigen Therapeutics.

ARMMs particles are a unique class of extracellular vesicles that are naturally produced by cells and serve as a vehicle to package and deliver communication signals, including transcription complexes, between cells and tissues. ARMMs show enhanced functionality in packaging and transferring payloads, by fusing directly with the cell membrane of a target cell. The cellular ARRDC1 system is a pathway co-opted by enveloped viruses, such as HIV, using a functional homolog, Gag. Like ARMMs particles, enveloped virus particles avoid immune clearance and deliver their viral genome payload specifically to target cells in a fusogenic delivery. Vesigen is engineering ARMMs particles to improve this natural mechanism for more effective targeted delivery of therapeutic agents.

About Vesigen Therapeutics

Vesigen Therapeutics is a biotechnology company advancing groundbreaking therapies directed to intracellular targets using a fusogenic extracellular vesicle delivery technology. Our patented technology, called ARMMs (ARRDC1 Mediated Microvesicles), is expanding the universe of druggable targets by enabling the delivery of a wide range of payloads, including RNAs (mRNA, shRNA, ribozymes), proteins (signaling proteins, enzymes, antibody fragments), and gene-editing complexes (Cas9/gRNA) directly into the cytoplasm of target cells. The team is committed to leveraging ARMMs technology to develop transformative medicines and address currently unmet medical needs. For additional information visit www.vesigentx.com. 

About ARMMs

ARMMs vesicles (ARRDC1-mediated microvesicles) are a class of fusogenic extracellular vesicles produced by cells to package and deliver communication signals between cells and tissues. The ARMMs cellular machinery is partially hijacked by many enveloped viruses, such as HIV and Ebola, to produce viruses which bud out of host cells and have specific targeting properties. ARMMs possess unique properties not found in other classes of extracellular vesicles (e.g. exosomes), making them better suited for delivering therapeutic agents. It has been demonstrated that a wide range of labile and difficult to deliver therapeutic agents, including RNAs (mRNA, shRNA, ribozymes), proteins (signaling proteins, enzymes, antibody fragments), and gene-editing complexes (Cas9/gRNA) can be packaged into ARMMs and functionally delivered intracellularly in vitro and in vivo. ARMMS vesicles were discovered and engineered into a drug delivery system in the lab of Quan Lu, PhD, Professor of Environmental Genetics and Physiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with support in particular from Harvard's Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator. Vesigen will advance the ARMMs platform to develop innovative medicines for patients through an exclusive license agreement with Harvard University.

Contact

Bridgette Chandhoke
Head of Corporate Communications
[email protected]

SOURCE Vesigen Therapeutics