Evonik and Stanford University Partner to Develop mRNA Drug Delivery Technology

Evonik and Stanford University have entered into a three-year sponsored research collaboration to develop a new polymer-based drug delivery system. The new technology can deliver messenger RNA (mRNA) to tissues and organs in a manner that goes beyond the capabilities of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), Evonik announced on June 10, 2021. Evonik will license and commercialize the polymer-based platform, which complements its existing portfolio of lipid-based drug delivery, including LNPs.

Under the collaboration, Evonik will work together with Stanford University scientists to scale up the synthesis and formulation of the drug delivery platform and further develop the technology for organ-selective delivery based on a non-animal-derived, synthetic degradable polymer. Evonik aims to make this technology good manufacturing practice-compliant for use in clinical-stage developments and, ultimately, for commercial-scale manufacturing. The new polymer-based delivery platform, known as CART (Charge Altering Releasable Transporters), was developed by Professor Robert Waymouth, Professor Paul Wender, and Professor Ronald Levy of Stanford University.

“We are proud to collaborate with Stanford University and combine our innovative power in advanced drug delivery. Through this project we look forward to enabling the next generation of mRNA-based medicine,” said Dr. Thomas Riermeier, head of Evonik’s Health Care business line, in a company press release.

“If we are to harness the full potential of mRNA therapeutics, we will need a toolbox of drug delivery technologies to target an expanded range of tissues and organs. Therefore, it is a great pleasure to collaborate with Stanford University and bring our expertise in advanced drug delivery to commercialize the new platform,” said Stefan Randl, vice-president of Research, Development & Innovation for Evonik Health Care, in the press release.

Source: Evonik