Jan 9 2009
Kylin Therapeutics announces plans to further develop a Purdue University technology that could allow physicians to target drug delivery for treatment of diseases ranging from AIDS to cancer.
The life sciences firm received a $1.2 million grant from the State of Indiana's 21st Century Research and Technology Fund to further bring its cancer and disease fighting biotechnology to market.
"The 21st Century Fund provides critical seed capital to emerging high-growth companies such as Kylin Therapeutics that are necessary to ensure our state's economic growth," said Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.
Located in the Purdue Research Park, Kylin Therapeutics is in the pre-clinical stage of commercializing a technology called pRNA. Kylin’s pRNAi is a platform technology that leverages the power of RNA and a natural process called RNA interference (RNAi) to directly target and "turn off" disease-causing genes.
"We are using this funding to develop a pRNAi-based cancer treatment," said Eric Davis, president and chief executive of Kylin Therapeutics. "The research in this area shows promise in treating prostate cancer, ovarian cancer and other diseases."
The pRNA technology was invented and developed by Peixuan Guo when he was a professor of molecular virology and biomedical engineering and faculty scholar at Purdue. Currently, he is an endowed professor and director of the Nanomedicine Bionanotechnology Center at the University of Cincinnati.
Formed through a joint effort between IN-vivo Ventures and North Carolina-based Golden Pine Ventures, Kylin Therapeutics acquired an exclusive license to an RNAi delivery method known as pRNA from Purdue in 2007. Since the licensure and the state’s investment, the company has secured an additional $2.2 million in private funding and hired four professionals to bring its disease fighting platform to the market.
The company received a $250,000 grant from the state in 2007 and has since doubled its workforce and expanded research of the pRNAi technology.