Компания NTx Bio из Рио-Ранчо представила новую систему FLEX для персонализированного производства РНК

BUSINESS Rio Rancho company looks into the future of RNA production FLEX system allows for personalized way to produce RNA targeted at cancer treatment RIO RANCHO — Ribonucleic acid — known as RNA — something in all living beings, will be produced more efficiently thanks to a Rio Rancho business. NTx Bio created a new system for producing RNA called the FLEX. "NTxscribe FLEX is a new, more flexible and affordable benchtop system designed for the flexibility and customizability demanded by preclinical research, process development, and translational applications," a release from the company states. For NTx Rio Rancho Chief Executive Director Joan Haab, the technology is something that will benefit people worldwide in the long run. "What we would like to do is help researchers who are meeting what I would call unmet needs and doing it in a way that would enable therapies to come to people who might not otherwise get them," Haab said. RNA is commonly found in vaccines and drugs that people rely on in everyday theraputics. "The way that works is it sort of temporarily reprograms your cells to respond to an infectious agent," Haab said. "Or, in our case, it can help mediate a correction for a genetic disorder, or it can help provide treatment for cancer in situations where people have types of cancers that don't respond to any other treatment. One of the things that you can do is you can use RNA to reprogram your own self to fight cancer more effectively." Before RNA can even make it into a treatment, however, it has to be manufactured for purified use. Haab compared the process to making soup. "So what we do is we throw all of the ingredients into the pot … and you let that go for a period of time. Then out of that you make RNA, but you have to purify it away from all of the other soup," she said, providing an analogy of someone only wanting the soup's carrots. "It's kind of the same thing, and that's how all RNA is made commercially right now. So, for things like infectious disease, like COVID, where you wanted to make lots and lots of RNA for lots of doses of vaccines, that's a process that works just fine," she said. But she said NTx is not focused on infectious disease but on therapies such as cancer treatment. "One of the things that's really hard about the pot of soup is there's a limit to how small you can go and how personalized you can go," she said. Another hurdle is the fragility of RNA to begin with, which the "pot of soup" isn't really ideal for, Haab said. To address these issues, NTx designed a shrunken version of the larger production model, Haab said. "Instead of doing it in a pot, we do it in something we call a hollow fiber bioreactor, which just looks like a tube and, essentially, you're going to put all of the ingredients for soup into one end of the tube, and the reaction is going to happen out the other end," she said. The new process will allow the team to start purifying the RNA immediately rather than letting it sit in the "soup," she added. "And it does two things for you. It allows you to do small quantities of it, which is what you need if you're going to do cancer treatments or rare disease treatments, and it also gives you really, really high-quality RNA because you've eliminated all those other problems in the pot," she said. The more efficient process will also minimize risk and cost while improving the quality, Haab noted. "Manufacturing drugs is really, really expensive. It's very complicated. … There's a lot of risk, so if something goes wrong, you have to start over and the whole process is very expensive," she said. "What we did was to close everything up and make it automated, so that means that a single person can can use the system." NTx is targeting researchers all over the world, she said, as they make the equipment to make the drugs. "As we work with drug developers, the goal is for us to be part of their manufacturing process. So, as they develop a new drug, they would use our equipment to make that drug for clinical trials that people participate in, and then ultimately we hope for some of those drugs to become commercially available," she said. One example of an ongoing clinical trial n New Mexico is the treatment for refractory melanoma, according to Haab. "If that drug were approved, then it would be available to doctors across the country," she said. Additionally, because the process to make a drug was less dangerous and streamlined, the commercialized product could end up being more affordable to the average consumer. Right now, NTx has launched the new technology, which was to begin shipping at the end of August. "I think if we are successful and we become the standard for how manufacturing RNA is done for these types of applications, then I think the impact is tremendous because it really does have the potential to grow into something that enables people to have personalized therapy," Haab said. She also the possibility of having access to treatment on-site at hospitals. "Imagine a world where someone gets a cancer diagnosis and the doctor has the opportunity to understand the underlying problem … and then develop a personalized therapy, if not in the doctor's office, then locally that can come directly to you in order to make that happen," she said. Haab also talked about the potential impact on Rio Rancho and New Mexico economy. "There's there's a lot of power in establishing a successful business in something like biotech to draw other businesses," she said. "This is a good place to do business. … We really value the opportunity to to be that in Rio Rancho and a New Mexico in general."