Circio presents circVec circular RNA in vivo expression proof-of-concept data at ESGCT 2024 annual meeting

• Circio selected to present its circVec circular RNA expression platform at the European Society of Cell and Gene Therapy (ESGCT) annual meeting in Rome 22-25 October; a prestigious and widely attended international gene therapy conference
• Circio presented new circVec protein expression data showing statistically significant advantage vs. conventional mRNA-based vector expression both in vitro and in vivo
• The circVec 2.1 generation shows 15x increase in protein expression in vivo, and has the potential to substantially improve on the performance of current gold-standard gene therapy approaches

Oslo, Norway 24 October 2024 – Circio Holding ASA (OSE: CRNA), a biotechnology company developing next generation circular RNA vector technology for gene therapy, today announces the publication of new, strong and statistically significant circVec circular RNA in vivo expression proof-of-concept data, presented both in the form of a poster and oral presentation by CTO, Dr. Thomas B Hansen, at the European Society of Cell and Gene Therapy (ESGCT) annual meeting 2024.

“Circio continues to build momentum with the unique and powerful circVec platform. We selected the prestigious ESGCT meeting to present our latest results as it provided a great opportunity to showcase our technology to a broad life science industry and academic audience,” said Dr. Thomas B. Hansen, CTO of Circio. “circVec significantly outperforms mRNA-based expression both in vitro and in vivo and has the potential to offer substantial enhancement over current gold-standard gene therapy approaches.”

In the ESGCT presentation, Circio showed the evolution and improvements of the circVec platform from the initial circVec 1.0 design to the current generation 2.1. Long-term in vivo experiments have now demonstrated that circVec 2.1 robustly outperforms classical mRNA-based expression over time, offering enhanced durability that reaches up to 15-fold higher reporter signals in mouse models. Additionally, a machine-learning approach to codon optimization has generated a novel circVec 2.2 design, delivering a further 2-4-fold increase in protein yield.

Circio is currently testing the performance of circVec 2.1 and 2.2 in both viral and DNA vector systems in multiple tissues and disease settings in vivo. These data will guide future development and partnering strategy for the circVec platform.

The ESGCT slides and poster are attached hereto, and will also be made available on www.circio.com 

Title of presentation and poster:

Optimization of in vitro and in vivo performance of circVec, a vector-based circular RNA expression platform for enhanced gene therapy

Presenter: Dr. Thomas B Hansen, CTO

For further information, please contact:
Erik Digman Wiklund, CEO
Phone: +47 413 33 536
Email: erik.wiklund@circio.com

Neil Hunter, Hunter PR
Phone: +44 7821 255568
Email: neiljameshunter@gmail.com

About Circio

Building next generation RNA therapeutics
Circio Holding ASA is a biotechnology company developing novel circular RNA gene therapies and immunotherapy medicines.

Circio has established a unique circular RNA (circRNA) expression platform for genetic medicine. The proprietary circVec technology is based on a modular genetic cassette design for efficient biogenesis of multifunctional circRNA from DNA and viral vectors, which can be deployed in multiple disease settings, including cell and gene -therapy and chronic diseases. The circVec platform has demonstrated enhanced and more durable protein expression vs. classic mRNA vector systems and has the potential to become the new gold-standard for DNA and virus-based therapeutics in the future. The circRNA R&D activities are being conducted by the wholly owned subsidiary Circio AB based at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

In addition, Circio is developing a pan-RAS cancer vaccine, TG01, targeting KRAS driver mutations. TG01 is currently being tested in two clinical trials: RAS-mutated pancreatic and lung cancer in the USA and multiple myeloma in Norway. These studies are being run through academic and industry collaborative networks, supported by prestigious research grants from Innovation Norway and the Norwegian Research Council, creating read-outs and future optionality for the program at low cost to Circio.