The world first red blood cell drug delivery company announced dissolution
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The world first red blood cell drug delivery company announced dissolution
US$1.8 billion wiped out, Rubius, the world’s first red blood cell drug delivery company, announced its dissolution
Large-scale layoffs, reduced R& D pipelines , and active transformation, this series of difficult efforts did not save Rubius Therapeutics . There will be liquidation and dissolution.
Erythrocytes have been used as a carrier to deliver drugs for nearly half a century.
Erythrocyte-based drug delivery systems have attracted extensive attention in clinical transformation due to their excellent biocompatibility, circulation half-life, safety and many other advantages.
Erythrocyte-based drug delivery systems have also developed from traditional methods such as encapsulation and surface adsorption to a new generation of technologies such as covalent modification by enzyme engineering and genetic engineering.
In 2018, Rubius Therapeutics was listed on Nasdaq as the world’s first red blood cell therapy research and development company , and advanced the genetically engineered red blood cell therapy to clinical trials.
At the time of listing, Rubius’ market value was as high as US$1.8 billion, but now the market value is only US$13 million, which is more than 99% lower than when it was listed.
From its inception, Rubius’ goal was to develop therapeutics based on bioengineered red blood cells, with a focus on developing red blood cell therapies for rare diseases, cancer and autoimmune diseases.
However, in 2022, after reviewing its lead candidate therapy, Rubius decided to discontinue two R&D pipelines already in clinical trials ( RTX-240 and RTX-224 ) and lay off 75% of its workforce in order to save expenses and support it with existing funds By the end of 2023, Rubius also plans to sell a production site.
RTX-240 , through genetic engineering, allows red blood cells to express 4-1BBL and IL-15, and stimulates CD8+ T cells and NK cells to generate anti-tumor immune responses by activating 4-1BB and IL-15 signaling pathways.
It is in phase 1/2 clinical trial. RTX-240 has been given to 36 patients with solid tumors as monotherapy and 14 patients with solid tumors in combination with pembrolizumab (an anti-PD-1 mAb) .
RTX-224 , through genetic engineering, allows red blood cells to express 4-1BBL and IL-12, and stimulates CD4+T cells, CD8+T cells, NK cells and antigen-presenting cells by activating 4-1BB and IL-12 signaling pathways ( APC) to generate an anti-tumor immune response.
It is currently in Phase 1/2 clinical trials. RTX-224 has been administered to eight patients with solid tumors.
However, Rubius believes that these two therapies do not have the prospect of continued investment.
Therefore, this difficult transition decision has been made, and the focus will be on the development of a new generation of red blood cell platform – the red blood cell coupling platform .
This cell-conjugation approach, combined with red blood cell therapy, is expected to prolong circulation time, enhance pharmacodynamic effects, and allow higher doses of cells to be administered outcomes.
At the time, Rubius said it would announce preclinical data for the new project by the end of 2022, including the results of non-human primate trials , as well as a schedule for applicants for human clinical trials .
While the new R&D pipeline is still under wraps, Rubius CEO Pablo Cagnoni revealed that new programs will include immune stimulants and type 1 diabetes treatments.
Just two months after laying off staff, shrinking the R&D pipeline, and transitioning to a new platform, Rubius announced that it was seeking a sale or merger. Sadly, these last-ditch efforts didn’t save Rubius.
References :
https://www.rubiustx.com/
https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/after-last-ditch-effort-cellular-medicine-biotech-rubius-moves-dissolve
The world first red blood cell drug delivery company announced dissolution
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