Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. and Curigin, a Korean biotechnology company developing oncolytic ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) gene therapies, are collaborating for adenoviral vector production. The gene therapy developer will leverage Charles River’s expertise in contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) solutions to support its preclinical and clinical trials.

Curigin develops anticancer gene therapy products that utilize innovative genetically engineered viruses and novel RNAi technology to quickly and accurately block key disease-specific genetic signal pathways, effectively switching off genes responsible for tumor growth. These gene therapies serve an unmet clinical need and can be offered to patients who have not been treated with conventional cancer drugs.

Curigin’s lead candidate is CA102, a genetically engineered adenovirus for bladder cancer which, according to the World Cancer Research Fund, is the 10th most common type of cancer worldwide. Based on preclinical evaluation data for CA102, Curigin expects to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. FDA within the year.

Charles River has standardized protocols for cell culture, transfection, and downstream purification, as well as a validated platform process with a proven track record. These high-yield, optimized methods increase speed to clinical manufacturing by reducing process development time and costs while ensuring the highest quality production.

“This collaboration with Curigin will tap into our industry-leading gene therapy CDMO capabilities and we are thrilled that our expertise will help bring potentially curative therapies to patients,” said Kerstin Dolph, corporate senior vice president, biologics solutions, Charles River

Jae-Gyun Jeong, president, Curigin said, “Developing innovative therapeutics is our mission and we are steadily working towards that goal. We are excited to work with Charles River in the manufacturing phase as we continue to race on the path to drug development for oncology patients.”