22 October 2024

Laverock Therapeutics to present new data on gene silencing platform at ESGCT

Stevenage, UK, 22 October 2024 - Laverock Therapeutics, a gene-silencing company with a uniquely powerful technology for the development of programmable advanced therapies to tackle major diseases, today announces it is to present new data on its innovative gene-silencing platform at the European Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ESGCT) Conference in Rome 22-25 October.

Led by COO Tom Payne, Laverock’s team of scientists will be presenting three posters covering the Company’s technology platform and its application to CAR T cells and tumour microenvironment (TME) responsive macrophages for oncology.

The data demonstrates the broad utility of the gene silencing technology for the development of differentiated therapeutic products.

In contrast to other approaches, Laverock’s technology allows gene silencing that is programmable – linking silencing to cell identity or state; tunable – giving precise control of gene expression; stable – avoiding transient affects or epigenetic silencing; and specific – showing minimal loss or gain of function effects. It is also readily multiplexable, allowing targeting of multiple pathways in a single engineering step.

Laverock’s product-focused posters demonstrate tunable, multiplex silencing of checkpoint pathways in primary T-cells, and use of phenotype-specific miRNA expression patterns to control macrophage function in response to TME cues.

Tom Payne, COO of Laverock, said:

Over the last year we have generated a complete set of data in human cells demonstrating the unique features of our technology – namely its ability to silence genes in a programmable, tunable, stable and highly specific manner across a number of target genes and cell types. We believe this will enable the development of safer, targeted cell therapies by engineering human cells that exhibit gene silencing of the right genes, in the right cell, and at the right time.

Poster presentations:

  • P: 0653. Klucnika, A et al Gene Editing induced Gene Silencing (GEiGS®) - A new technology to transform advanced therapies by programmable gene silencing. (Thursday 24.10.24 14:15 – 15:30).
  • P: 0694. Houghton, B et al Programmable, multiplex CAR T cell engineered with Genome Editing induced Gene Silencing (GEiGs). (Thursday 24.10.24 18:00 – 19:30).
  • P:0780. Menon, V et al Gene Editing induced Gene Silencing (GEiGS) technology to develop TME-responsive macrophages for solid tumour immunotherapy. (Thursday 24.10.24 18:00 – 19:30).