The acquisition will serve as the foundation for Kriya’s neurology therapeutic area portfolio, with two lead gene therapy programs focused on epilepsy and trigeminal neuralgia (TN).
New York City headquartered Redpin boasts a proprietary chemogenetics platform, which can selectively activate or silence disease-causing neurons, while leaving normal functioning cells unaffected.
Currently available treatments for neurological disorders typically rely on systemically administered drugs or surgical interventions to address local neuron dysfunction. However, these approaches can have limited efficacy and off-target side effects.
In contrast, chemogenetics leverages gene products that are selectively responsive to a chosen small molecule. Redpin’s technology utilizes gene therapy to express engineered ion channels that are responsive to modulation by the FDA-approved anti-smoking drug varenicline to either inhibit specific overactive neurons or stimulate underactive ones.
Kriya believes Redpin’s chemogenetics approach could have ‘significant potential’ in the targeted treatment of certain disorders.
“Redpin’s innovative chemogenetics platform has the potential to transform the lives of patients suffering from intractable neurological conditions,” said Shankar Ramaswamy, M.D., Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kriya, which has its core operations in Silicon Valley and Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. “We are looking forward to integrating Redpin’s platform and pipeline into Kriya’s gene therapy engine as we advance our mission to develop life-changing gene therapies that can address diseases affecting millions of patients around the world.”
Redpin’s investors include 4BIO Capital, Arkin Bio Ventures, Takeda Ventures Inc, New York Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments.