Biotechnology company Skyhaw enters strategic cooperation with U.S. New Base

Today, a big news came from the industry. Skyhawk Therapeutics, a start-up biotechnology  company,  announced that it has reached a  strategic cooperation with Celgene for a five-year period,  obtaining  a new base of US$60 million in prepayments and possible future licensing fees. Milestone payment, etc. At the same time, the company also announced the completion of a new round of $40 million in financing. It is worth noting that the core technology of Skyhawk lies in its proprietary technology platform "Small molecule Therapies for Alternative Splicing in RNA ("STAR"), which can be used to design new types of small Molecular drugs are expected to be used for the treatment of various diseases such as cancer and neurological diseases.

Targeted RNA splicing breakthrough therapy

The Skyhawk company was founded shortly after its headquarters in Massachusetts, USA. Earlier this year, the company announced that its research and development will focus on small-molecule  therapeutics to correct the erroneous splicing of RNA known as "exon skipping." In order to treat related diseases.

The occurrence of RNA mis-splicing is due to the omission of key regions of RNA during RNA splicing, and this error can trigger the occurrence of multiple diseases. More and more data show that the disorder of splicing regulation is closely related to the occurrence of diseases. There are currently more than 50 diseases caused by exon skipping, including a wide range of neurological diseases, cancers, and other diseases.

Note: Skyhawk's new method can correct basic genetic information in the nuclei of diseases at the mRNA level, and its small molecule drugs can target major neurological diseases, such as major transcription factors in cancer, as well as immunity, inflammation, and infectious diseases. A large number of targets. (Source: Skyhawk website)

The proprietary STAR technology that Skyhawk is developing uses specific sequences and structures to rationally design small molecules that can target specific regions on RNA at specific points in the RNA splicing process. Skyhawk believes that this approach is expected to reverse the wrong splicing and thus cure the disease.

This unique technology platform is considered to be the key to attracting attention from Newfoundland. Xinji is a globally renowned biopharmaceutical company and a leader in biopharmaceutical research and development. According to the cooperation agreement between the two parties, Xinji Company will have exclusive rights to obtain a license for the development of a high-value drug candidate  for neurological disease treatment developed by Skyhawk. Xinji hopes to use the company's STAR technology platform to target amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease and other five neurological diseases.

RNA splicing model (Source: Skyhawk Website)

Dr. Richard Hargreaves, head of early development for neuroscience and imaging at Newfoundland, believes that RNA splicing is becoming an increasingly important method in neurological research. “Cooperative development of small molecule splicing modifiers is our commitment to further expand the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. We focus on protein homeostasis, and our strategy also includes collaboration with innovators who focus on disease-based breakthrough  therapies.  We look forward to working with Skyhawk. The company's global team of leading experts is collaborating and hopes that this collaboration will bring innovative therapeutics to patients,” said Dr. Richard Hargreaves.

100 million U.S. dollars of new funds to accelerate the conversion of research results.

Skyhawk also announced the completion of a new round of $40 million in financing. Investors in this round of financing include its angel investors Alexandria Venture Investments and Duke of Bedford, as well as new additions to GreatPoint Ventures and Shinco. Together with the initial payment of $60 million obtained from transactions with Sun Capital, Skyhawk's recent earnings have reached $100 million.

The funds will be used to advance the company's STAR platform and the company's research pipeline for RNA mutation-associated tumors  and neurological diseases.  Skyhawk expects that its first  product for cancer treatment will enter the clinical stage by the end of 2019.

It is reported that Skyhawk can obtain more funds through undisclosed milestone payment and potential royalties if the new base's goal is achieved. Moreover, if this method is effective, the new base may seek more license agreements from Skyhawk.

Skyhawk co-founder and CEO Mr. Bill Haney (Source: Skyhawk Website).

It is worth noting that Bill Haney, the company's co-founder and CEO, is a very well-known  inventor  and entrepreneur in the United States. He is also the CEO and Chairman of Dragonfly Therapeutics, another biotechnology company. According to Skyhawk's official website, he was a founding member of the US Environmental Protection Agency's National Advisory Council on the Environment and a member of the National Academy of Sciences' President's Circle. He also received many major awards such as the Humanitarian Award from Harvard Medical School and the American Civil Liberties Union Achievement Award. He is also a co-founder of World Connect, a global non-profit organization  and a  director of Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, World Wildlife Fund, World Resources Institute and NRDC.

For the milestone progress of the company in the near future, Dr. Bill Haney said: “With the completion of the strategic alliance with Shinji and the completion of the new financing, Skyhawk will continue to advance the revolutionary small molecule therapy that changes the expression of RNA. Shinji is an outstanding biopharmaceutical. The company, whose breakthrough scientific achievements are expected to bring new therapeutic options for patients with neurological diseases, we look forward to successful cooperation with Shinji and continue our internal initiatives to bring innovative therapeutics to exon skipping-driven cancer indications. ."