South Korea’s SK Biopharmaceuticals on Wednesday said it has forged a partnership with Biorchestra, a local bio-venture dedicated to RNA-based therapeutics, for joint research and development of new therapeutic compounds targeting microRNAs (miRNA) for a potential treatment of epilepsy.

MicroRNA, a type of endogenous non-coding RNA that can regulate gene expression and protein production, has drawn attention from scientists for its potential to support clinical diagnosis and treatment of various diseases.

Under the partnership agreement, Biorchestra will be responsible for target discovery, selection, and synthesis via its in-house technology and SK Biopharmaceuticals for validation and pre-clinical trials.

Biorchestra has a platform that uses antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) to inhibit and regulate miRNA function, and a proprietary drug delivery system (BDDSTM) that can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and deliver therapeutic RNA to the brain.

The two will also jointly own intellectual property and licensing rights to candidate compounds to be discovered through their research.

By Kim Si-gyun and Minu Kim

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