Oisin Biotechnologies Seeks to Treat Chronic Kidney Disease with Senolytic Suicide Gene Therapy
Oisin Biotechnologies is one of the older startup biotech companies in the still young and growing longevity industry. The company develops a programmable suicide gene therapy platform, initially targeted at the selective destruction of senescent cells and cancerous cells. Of interest in a recent press release regarding funding is the note that their senolytic program will be used to treat chronic kidney disease. Other groups are running human trials of the dasatinib and quercetin combination as a treatment for chronic kidney disease. Positive data there will help Oisin Biotechnologies, in the sense that it will further validate the use of senolytics as a class of therapy for this condition, but at the same time set a bar for success that will need to be beaten.
Oisín Biotechnologies, a privately held, preclinical biotechnology company focused on mitigating the effects of age-related diseases, today announced it has completed an oversubscribed round raising $5 million in new seed funding. Led by early-stage investing firm Althea Group, LLC, the round brings Oisín's total funding to $9.5 million. Oisín will use the proceeds to advance its preclinical pipeline, including its most advanced investigational therapy aimed at chronic kidney disease (CKD).
"The support for Oisín's novel approach to slowing or halting age-related diseases has been strong. Chronic kidney disease (CKD), our initial therapeutic focus, has seen little in the way of therapeutic advances over the past several decades. We believe Oisín is well positioned to address this unmet medical need and will continue to explore other applications in tandem."
Oisín's highly precise, DNA-based interventions are designed to clear senescent cells, which can trigger aging pathologies and shorten lifespan, from the body. Its proprietary technology is a third-wave innovation that uses a novel proteo-lipid vehicle drug delivery platform to induce a senescent cell to trigger apoptosis without harming surrounding healthy cells. In preclinical studies, Oisín's investigational therapeutics have significantly reduced senescent cell burden in naturally aged mice and extended lifespan by more than 20%, even when the treatment was started in old age.
Oisín expects the first readouts from its preclinical study in CKD later this year. The initial data will inform its next series of studies and eventually, its first proposed clinical trial design. While using this latest funding to accelerate its CKD work, the company is continuing to progress other planned studies in its preclinical program, advance additional pipeline indications and move towards a regulatory filing to begin its first clinical trial.