Circio and Solid Biosciences enter collaboration to evaluate circVec and POLARIS-101 technology for Genetic Heart Disease
- The collaboration will evaluate combining the circVec generation 5 construct into POLARIS-101TM to address major unmet medical needs in genetic heart disease
- Solid Biosciences´ proprietary, next-generation AAV capsid, POLARIS-101, was engineered for enhanced cardiac and muscle tropism
- Circio´s latest circVec generation 5 has demonstrated up to 200-fold enhanced gene expression from AAV vectors in heart in vivo
Oslo, Norway, 11 November 2026 – Circio Holding ASA (OSE: CRNA), a biotechnology company developing novel circular RNA expression technology for gene and cell therapy, today announces a research collaboration with Solid Biosciences Inc. (Nasdaq: SLDB) to evaluate the combination of Circio’s circVec platform with Solid’s proprietary, next-generation AAV capsid, POLARIS-101TM, for targeted, systemic gene therapy for genetic heart disease.
Current gene therapy approaches for genetic heart disease often require high systemic AAV doses associated with significant safety risks. Circio´s circular RNA gene expression platform, circVec, has demonstrated approximately 200-fold enhanced gene expression from AAV vectors in the heart in vivo. Solid´s proprietary myotropic capsid, POLARIS-101, was engineered for enhanced cardiac muscle targeting with reduced liver biodistribution, and has generated encouraging early clinical safety data.
The parties aim to integrate these complementary technologies to evaluate potential synergies. The combination could result in highly specific and potent next generation gene therapies to address major unmet medical needs in genetic heart disease, with the intent of reducing therapeutic dose levels and improving safety.
“Solid Biosciences is at the forefront of AAV engineering, and their engineered capsid, POLARIS-101, has shown impressive cardiac targeting in pre-clinical models, in addition to encouraging clinical safety data. We believe that circVec can build on POLARIS-101’s strong tropism to further amplify cardiac gene expression, potentially enabling next generation heart gene therapies with enhanced potency and specificity,” said Dr. Victor Levitsky, CSO of Circio. “Combining circVec with POLARIS-101 is a strategically and scientifically highly relevant opportunity for Circio, and we look forward to working with Solid´s team of AAV experts. This R&D collaboration adds further to our strategy of testing circVec in multiple therapeutic applications, and broadens the development opportunities in genetic heart disease.”
In the collaboration, Circio will generate circVec constructs based on its latest generation 5 design, which Solid will package using its proprietary POLARIS-101 AAV capsid and dual plasmid manufacturing platform. The parties will jointly characterize and test the combined AAV vectors in vitro and in vivo. If successful, potential therapeutic candidates will be further evaluated and progressed into pre-clinical development. The collaboration is part of Circio´s R&D strategy to test circVec with complementary, state-of-the-art delivery solutions to design next generation therapy vectors with improved performance and specificity for heart, eye and CNS tissues.