The Future of mRNA–LNP Formulation Development (Part Two)

Editor's note: this interview was originally published on PharmTech.com.

In part two of a video interview, Colin McKinlay, PhD, senior director, Chemistry and Delivery Technologies, Nutcracker Therapeutics, points out that one of the exciting things in messenger RNA (mRNA) development is the fact that not everyone involved in this field is necessarily going in the same direction. “There [are many] different places that mRNA can be applied, and, in some cases, moving past the early stages of this field, one of the things that people are going to have to do is start specializing in different areas,” he says.

“Vaccines is obviously an area that mRNA has really demonstrated itself already, and so, I think making sure that the platform technology doesn't get pigeonholed into only being something that people think of as a vaccine technology is … important for the growth of the field, and moving beyond infectious disease vaccines, or even COVID[-19] vaccines,” McKinlay explains.

“In terms of the LNP [lipid nanoparticle] side of things, where I spend [much] of my time, I think there [are many] lipid nanoparticle technologies that will focus on expression in the liver and are directed towards the liver. One of the things that [many] folks in the field are really focusing on is, how do we actually direct these lipid nanoparticles to other organs in the body so that we can address other types of disease areas? Those are things where there hasn't been … [much] large-scale clinical successes,” McKinlay adds.

LNPs for RNA delivery, in terms of non-viral RNA delivery, have dominated the field in terms of clinical approvals, but McKinlay expresses concern about the industry possibly getting stuck in a kind of local maxima, “where the field does [much] optimization and [may] climb in efficacy, but then … reach a point where there's not too much that [one] can really optimize on anymore. [At Nutcracker Therapeutics], we're able to branch away from traditional LNP type particles, and have particles that are a little bit more unique to the chemistry of … peptoid molecules, and we think that that's pushing us over a little bit away from where the rest of the field is working, so that there's maybe a little bit more room to grow and a little bit more room to improve,” McKinlay states.

Click above for part two of this video interview. Click here for part one.

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About the speaker

Colin McKinlay, PhD, Senior Director, Chemistry and Delivery Technologies, Nutcracker Therapeutics

Colin McKinlay is the senior director of Chemistry and Delivery Technologies at Nutcracker Therapeutics. He has over 10 years of expertise in nucleic acid delivery through his current position at Nutcracker Therapeutics and his doctoral research at Stanford University with Professors Paul Wender and Robert Waymouth. This research involved preparation of synthetic delivery vehicles through organocatalytic ring-opening polymerization, and their characterization and in-vitro and in-vivo evaluation for the delivery of DNA, RNA, and other biological macromolecules. He holds over five patents and nine peer-reviewed publications on chemical delivery technologies. McKinlay has led the delivery efforts at Nutcracker Therapeutics since 2018, including the establishment of its unique peptoid-based Nutshell delivery platform.