Ensysce Biosciences Inc. is developing a nanoscaled delivery system that might work for many types of potential drugs but will first be applied to siRNAs, a class of drug candidates that inspired tremendous excitement a decade ago, but has since been abandoned by many of its former champions. The Houston, TX-based start-up believes it can harness single-walled carbon nanotubes to deliver siRNAs that will block or “silence” the genetic instructions encoded by messenger RNA, and thereby stop targeted genes from producing disease-related protein.
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The drug is one of multiple candidates in the class that have been pulled from development, though it is not the company’s lead candidate.
The microbiome-based company’s trial of VE202 in ulcerative colitis has failed in Phase II, but its ongoing Phase III study in C difficile infection is more promising.
The company will move ahead in testing RDX-002 among overweight and obese patients coming off GLP-1s, but the CEO said antipsychotic-induced weight gain could represent a multibillion-dollar market.
Leading a field of rival potassium channel modulators, azetukalner will have a pivotal epilepsy readout early next year, with Phase III trials in depression and biopolar disorder also underway.
