RenBio Announces New Awards to Support Continued Development of Its Novel, DNA-Based MYO Technology™ Platform for Antiviral Applications
Summary
The funding includes a $2.9 million award from Wellcome (https://wellcome.org/grant-funding) and a $749,000 contract award wholly supported by federal funds from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under contract number 75A50124C00017 (https://medicalcountermeasures.gov/barda/cbrn/antivirals-antitoxins/fastx).The BARDA award is part of the Flexible and Strategic Therapeutics (FASTx) Program, which seeks to advance a robust arsenal of flexible and adaptable therapeutic platforms to efficiently mitigate the impact of viral diseases and safeguard public health in the face of unpredictable viral threats. "These two awards are significant and boost the potential of our proprietary MYO Technology platform to deliver next-generation DNA medicines for infectious disease prevention," stated Rachel A. Liberatore, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of RenBio. "The work funded by Wellcome will complement our previously announced grant as a sub-awardee of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, under the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)s Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) program. The technology utilizes muscle cells (myocytes), converting them into in vivo bioreactors to effectively produce the desired therapeutic within the patients own body, potentially leading to radically new, longer lasting therapies, reducing the need for cold-chain storage, and resulting in shorter manufacturing times.RenBio is a privately-held preclinical biotechnology company founded by Columbia University Professors David D. Ho, M.D. To date, the company has raised $28.0 million in Seed and Series A financing and has received additional funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the New York State Biodefense Commercialization Fund, Wellcome, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).