OliPass Obtains Australian Patent for RNA Therapeutic Design Technology

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Jeong-su] RNA therapeutic platform company OliPass Inc. announced on the 2nd that a material and use patent for OliPass PNA (OPNA), an artificial gene specialized in inducing exon skipping by binding to pre-mRNA inside the cell nucleus, has been registered in Australia.

This technology has patent applications filed in major countries worldwide, including the United States, Europe, and Japan. Australia is the second country to register the patent after Singapore earlier this year.

OPNA (OliPass PNA) is an artificial gene with excellent cell permeability and is used as a base material for OliPass's RNA therapeutic development. The foundational material patent for OPNA is registered in over 30 countries worldwide, including the United States, Japan, and major European countries. OliPass's exclusive rights under this foundational material patent are valid until March 2028.

A company representative explained the significance of the patent acquisition, stating, "All of OliPass's RNA therapeutic pipelines are based on OPNA, which acts on pre-mRNA. With the acquisition of this material and use patent, OliPass's practical exclusivity on OPNA materials has been extended from March 2028 to the end of December 2036."

According to OliPass, artificial genes used in conventional RNA therapeutics over the past decades have had minimal cell permeability, necessitating overdosing to secure clinical efficacy. This often caused liver, kidney, and immune toxicities, and due to these safety limitations and annual drug costs in the tens of thousands of dollars, RNA therapeutics have primarily been developed for rare diseases.

With the newly registered OPNA patent, OliPass's RNA new drugs designed accordingly are expected to demonstrate therapeutic efficacy at clinical doses around 10 micrograms. This is 10,000 to 100,000 times lower than the clinical doses of existing RNA therapeutics. Therefore, RNA therapeutics based on the OPNA platform can be supplied with superior safety and at a lower cost.

Due to these technical characteristics, OliPass's RNA therapeutic platform is expected to be suitable not only for rare disease treatments but also for the development of chronic disease therapeutics, which represent a large market.