Circio And NeoRegen Advance The circVec-NICT Platform Into Preclinical Phase For RNA Therapeutics

Circio Holding ASA and NeoRegen Biotech have announced the signing of a second Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) to advance their collaboration on circular RNA (circRNA)-based therapeutics. This new agreement marks a transition from initial in vitro success to in vivo preclinical studies, signaling a key milestone in the partnership’s efforts to tackle delivery challenges in nucleic acid medicine.

“It is a very important milestone in the partnership that NeoRegen Biotech has decided to progress to in vivo testing of their unique NICT platform with circVec DNA vectors. The NICT delivery technology has shown strong promise to enable efficient delivery of DNA-format therapeutics to specific tissues. The planned in vivo studies will generate essential data to identify target disease indications and progress circVec-NICT candidates towards future clinical studies,” said Dr. Thomas Hansen, CTO of Circio. 

Circio, known for its proprietary circVec platform, leads in circRNA expression systems that enhance the stability and potency of gene and cell therapies. NeoRegen contributes its innovative NICT platform for intracellular delivery, which has demonstrated superior performance in cellular uptake and endosomal escape. By combining these technologies, the collaboration aims to improve targeted and durable delivery of nucleic acid therapies.

“The successful transition into in vivo studies marks a pivotal step in our co-development of circular RNA vector therapeutics. Combining NeoRegen’s NICT platform with Circio’s circVec technology has the potential to overcome key nucleic acid delivery barriers to fully realize the promise of gene and cell therapies,” said Dr. Jeongmin Seo, CEO of NeoRegen Biotech. 

The joint program will now focus on validating in vivo efficacy and identifying therapeutic targets for clinical development. Both companies reaffirmed their commitment to accelerating research into applications across cell therapy, gene therapy, and oncology, with the goal of progressing toward clinical trials in the near future.