Grünenthal has joined the Cluster for Nucleic Acid Therapeutics Munich (CNATM), strengthening its push into genetic medicines as it expands research into RNA-based therapies for pain, epilepsy and neurodegenerative diseases.

 

The partnership gives the German pharmaceutical company access to one of the country's leading academic and biotech networks focused on nucleic acid therapeutics, supporting its efforts to advance oligonucleotide drug discovery and develop new treatments based on antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) and small interfering RNA (siRNA).

 

Grünenthal said the collaboration will focus on improving the design, delivery and cellular activity of oligonucleotide therapies, with particular emphasis on targeted delivery of siRNA to neuronal cells and tissues involved in pain and neurological disorders. 

 

The company also expects the partnership to generate new scientific insights, technologies and therapeutic concepts that could be developed internally or through collaborations and new biotech ventures.

 

"We look forward to collaborating with our CNATM-partners and connecting cutting-edge academic science with a patient-outcome-focused industry perspective," says Uli Brödl, Chief Scientific Officer at Grünenthal. 

 

"With the CNATM, we are joining a group of like-minded experts striving to address unmet needs through innovation, and I am delighted for our teams to advance novel approaches with the leading members from the German and international nucleic acid therapeutics community."

 

The CNATM brings together scientists from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, the Technical University of Munich, the universities of Regensburg and Würzburg, the Helmholtz Centre Munich and 14 companies working in genetic medicine across the Munich region.

 

The cluster is part of Germany's Clusters4Future initiative and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). It aims to accelerate the development of nucleic-acid-based medicines by combining expertise in nucleic acid chemistry, biology, pharmacology, drug formulation, delivery and translational medicine.