CRNA: Circio and Avenue Biosciences jointly announce research collaboration to enhance protein secretion for gene therapy
2026-07-16 08:58:02
* Avenue Biosciences high throughput, machine learning-powered platform
engineers and screens signal peptide variants to increase protein secretion
from cells
* Circio's circVec technology has demonstrated significantly enhanced and
durable gene expression in several tissues, including heart, eye, and
central nervous system
* The aim is to explore whether the combination of these technologies can act
synergistically for delivery of secreted proteins by AAV gene therapy
* The collaboration fits into Circio s strategy to broadly test the
performance of circVec for various tissues and genetic payloads to identify
multiple potential therapeutic applications
Oslo, Norway, and Palo Alto, California, USA -- 16 July 2026 -- Circio Holding
ASA (OSE: CRNA), a biotechnology company developing novel circular RNA
expression technology for gene and cell therapy, and Avenue Biosciences, a
transatlantic protein engineering company, today jointly announce a research
collaboration to combine their synergistic technologies to improve long-term
expression of secreted proteins, relevant for treatment of a broad range of
diseases.
Secreting proteins from cells into surrounding tissue, or into circulation,
opens new treatment opportunities beyond classical gene therapy for monogenic
disease. Circio's circVec platform drives higher and more durable protein
expression. Avenue Biosciences' protein engineering technology improves
protein release ("secretion") from cells by screening thousands of signal
peptide-protein combinations. Circio and Avenue jointly explore whether the
two technologies in combination can act synergistically to improve the
production and secretion of proteins, including antibodies, for the treatment
of genetic and chronic diseases.
"Many gene therapies are limited by insufficient protein expression, driving
high doses, manufacturing complexity, and cost. The secretory pathway -- the
cellular machinery that produces and exports proteins -- is a largely
underutilized engineering opportunity. By combining Circio's durable circular
RNA expression with our technology, we aim to increase protein output per dose
and ultimately help more patients benefit from life-changing genetic
medicines," said Avenue Biosciences CEO Tero-Pekka Alastalo (MD, PhD).
In the collaboration, Avenue Biosciences' will deploy its protein engineering
platform to identify signal peptides that enable improved secretion of
therapeutic proteins expressed by circVec. The initial screening will be
performed by Avenue Biosciences, followed by further in vitro and in vivo
testing by Circio.
"A significant proportion of therapeutically relevant payloads for circVec are
secreted proteins," said Dr Victor Levitsky, CSO of Circio. "With the Avenue
platform, we will test how signal peptide optimization can enhance secretion
of proteins and thereby open novel opportunities for the circVec platform in
genetic and chronic disease. This collaboration is an important addition to
our pre-clinical development strategy of testing circVec in multiple settings
through R&D partnerships to broadly explore the range of therapeutic options
available for our unique circular RNA expression technology."
About Avenue Biosciences
Avenue Biosciences is a transatlantic biotechnology company dedicated to
accelerating the discovery and development of protein biologics, so that no
life-saving therapy goes unrealized because of production barriers. Avenue
Biosciences has developed a protein engineering platform that combines wet lab
chemistry and machine learning to boost protein production.
www.avenuebiosciences.com (http://www.avenuebiosciences.com/).
About Circio
Circio Holding ASA is a biotechnology company developing novel circular RNA
expression technology for gene and cell therapy.
Circio has established a unique circular RNA (circRNA) vector expression
technology for next generation RNA, DNA and viral therapeutics. The
proprietary circVec platform is based on a modular genetic construct designed
for efficient biogenesis of multifunctional circRNA inside target cells. The
circVec platform has applications in multiple therapeutic settings, including
genetic medicine, cell therapy and chronic disease. It has demonstrated
75-fold increased RNA half-life and up to 50-fold enhanced protein expression
vs. conventional mRNA-based viral and non-viral vector systems, with the
potential to become a new gold-standard gene expression technology. The
circVec R&D activities are being conducted by the wholly owned subsidiary
Circio AB in Stockholm, Sweden.
For further information, please contact:
Erik Digman Wiklund, CEO
Phone: +47 413 33 536
Email: erik.wiklund@circio.com
Lubor Gaal, CFO
Phone: +34 683 34 3811
Email: lubor.gaal@circio.com
+47 413 33 536\
Email: erik.wiklund@circio.com\
\
Lubor Gaal\, CFO\
Phone: +34 683 34 3811\
Email: lubor.gaal@circio.com\