CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kernal Biologics, Inc. (Kernal Bio) — an early-development-stage mRNA-technology company developing cancer therapeutics designed to improve patients’ survival rate and quality of life — is in Berlin, Germany, at the 9th Annual International mRNA Health Conference through tomorrow, November 10, 2021, presenting eagerly anticipated results from two preclinical studies. Both studies were designed to validate the robustness of the company’s mRNA 2.0 technology and to verify the expected efficacy in its approach — moving the company closer to its goal of clinical trials next year, according to Kernal Bio Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Yusuf Erkul, M.D.
“We’re honored to have had two of our posters accepted for the 2021 International mRNA Health Conference, during this headline year for mRNA medicine,” commented Dr. Erkul. “And we’re particularly excited to be in Berlin to highlight and explain our results in person — as well as online to the conference’s virtual attendees.”
Because the conference is a hybrid with both in-person and virtual attendees, each poster presentation will have a recorded presentation as well as company experts on site for more traditional discussion/Q&A sessions. Cafer Ozdemir, Ph.D., Kernal Bio’s co-founder and director of convergence science, will present both the recorded and in-person versions of the NASA poster. Monia Draghi, Ph.D., Kernal Bio’s director of immuno-oncology, will record the virtual presentation of the immuno-oncology poster and will be available for questions for virtual attendees of the conference; Dr. Erkul will be in Berlin to staff the poster for in-person attendees.
Describing the first poster, Dr. Erkul explained, “Of course — seeing our experiment performed in space by a NASA astronaut — it’s an adrenaline boost for the team and every adult/kid scientist’s dream come true. But the study described in our poster, ‘Leveraging Microgravity Aboard the International Space Station to Test Onco-selective mRNAs for Cancer Immunotherapy’ had a vital purpose in helping us to validate that our lead candidate for an mRNA-based drug was the correct one. The study proved that even under the harsh microgravity conditions of space — our mRNA candidate performs as expected, maintaining its robust onco-selective properties (ability to differentiate cancer cells from normal ones) capabilities.”
The second poster, ‘Onco-selective and Oncolytic mRNA Drives Tumor Regression in Anti-PD1 Resistant Tumors,’ features a critical milestone study highlighting the strong potential of Kernal Bio’s mRNA-based drug to be used in patients for whom checkpoint inhibitors, such as antiPD1/PD-L1, are ineffective. While checkpoint inhibitors have been very successful for the treatment of a wide variety of cancers, unfortunately, too often patients are resistant or develop resistance to these drugs. This study was designed to show that Kernal Bio’s mRNA-based drug could help address this big unmet medical need in oncology.
Commenting on the poster, Dr. Erkul said, “A significant milestone study — this shows our KR-333 proprietary mRNA cocktail triggers immunogenic cell death of tumor cells, causing the release of immunostimulatory signals that inflame the tumor microenvironment and activate antigen presenting cells. In plain English — in this case, used in combination with anti-PD1 immunotherapy, KR-333 was shown to significantly reduce or completely eliminate tumors and improve overall survival.”
| Poster Details: | |
| ID 214 | Leveraging Microgravity aboard the International Space Station to Test Onco-selective mRNAs for Cancer Immunotherapy |
| Cafer Ozdemir1, Carla Virginia Hoehn2, Shankini Doraisingam2, Christopher Cassidy3, Louis Stoideck2, Burak Yilmaz1, Yusuf Erkul1 | |
| 1Kernal Biologics, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA | |
| 2BioServe Space Technologies, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA | |
| 3United States Navy, Ret., Houston, TX, USA | |
| ID 209 | Onco-selective and oncolytic mRNA drives tumor regression in anti-PD1 resistant tumors |
| Rudy Christmas1, Tom A. Addison1, Tom V. Colace III1, Drishti Parwanda1, Jieni Xu1, Shaunak Kelkar1, Cafer Ozdemir1, Burak Yilmaz1, Yusuf Erkul1, Monia Draghi1 | |
| 1Kernal Biologics, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA | |
About Kernal Biologics, Inc.
AT KERNAL BIO, we aim to harness the power of our mRNA technology to provide cancer patients with treatments that give them the best chance of beating their disease — while eliminating as many common side effects as possible. Our unique inside-out approach attacks diseases like cancer at the cellular level. Our proprietary mRNA technology is engineered to move in stealth, undetected by the immune system, and encrypted to home in on cancer cells, making it distinctively onco-selective. Thus, we maximize the potential to improve patient outcomes compared to existing synthetic mRNA. Beyond our work in cancer therapeutics, we also license a portion of our technology to global pharma and biotech companies for non-oncology applications, which helps further and fund our internal development programs. Please visit our new website at www.kernalbio.com and on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
