Benzinga | Aug 5, 2021 08:04AM EDT

TransCode Therapeutics Awarded Funding from National Institutes of Health to Support Clinical Evaluation of TTX-MC138

TransCode Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNAZ), a platform company solving the challenge of RNA delivery in oncology, today announced that it has been awarded a Fast-Track Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the NIH to support the clinical evaluation of TTX-MC138, TransCode's lead therapeutic candidate for the treatment of metastatic solid tumors. The award totals $2.3 million expected over three years.

"We are honored that the NIH recognizes and supports our mission to overcome the obstacles of RNA delivery in oncology," said Michael Dudley, President and Chief Executive Officer of TransCode. "We believe our TTX delivery platform offers tremendous potential across a range of indications. Specifically, this SBIR grant will help fund our planned first-in-human study of our lead candidate, TTX-MC138, in patients with metastatic breast cancer. We look forward to submitting an eIND application in the first quarter of next year. This trial is designed to evaluate and demonstrate proof-of-concept for the mechanism of action for our novel delivery platform, potentially enabling TransCode to pursue a diverse pipeline of TTX-based therapeutics."

TransCode's proprietary TTX platform leverages an iron oxide nanoparticle as a novel, image-guided system to safely and efficiently deliver oligonucleotides to their intended RNA target. TTX-MC138 targets MicoRNA-10b, believed to drive metastatic disease. The therapeutic has been validated preclinically in multiple indications and has been shown to induce durable regressions of metastatic disease in murine models of disseminated breast cancer.