- Vanda Pharmaceuticals ( NASDAQ: VNDA ) and South Korea-based biotech OliPass on Thursday said they had entered into a research and development collaboration deal to make antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapeutics.
- ASOs are small pieces of DNA or RNA that can bind to specific molecules of RNA, which blocks the ability of the RNA to make a protein. They are being evaluated for the treatment of several types of cancer and other gene-based diseases.
- As per the collaboration agreement, the ASO molecules would be developed based on OliPass' proprietary modified peptide nucleic acids.
- "The collaboration will focus on editing and modifying gene expression using ASOs in disease states where the expression of genes is either altered or the sequence of the expressed genes can be altered for therapeutic benefit," the companies said in a statement .
- Vanda ( VNDA ) stock earlier closed -1.2% at $9.77.
For further details see:
Vanda Pharma, OliPass collaborate to develop oligonucleotide-based therapeutics