Australian biotech Rage Bio, which has been developing an inhaled splice-switching oligonucleotide (SSO) for the treatment of COPD, has announced that it has changed its name to Atisama Therapeutics. According to the announcement, the name Atisama derives from Sanskrit roots meaning ‘superior’ and ‘balanced state’, and the company’s web site explains, “we are restoring balance by down-regulating disease-driving isoforms and upregulating their protective counterparts; a dual-action mechanism unique to the SSO modality.”
Atisama’s lead candidate is RB042 inhalation solution, originally developed at Monash University. The former company name derived from the target of RB042: receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE). A Phase 1 trial of RB042 is currently underway, evaluating the inhalation solution versus nebulized placebo in healthy volunteers, including an arm that includes smokers.
Atisama CEO Siro Perez commented, “Becoming Atisama Therapeutics is more than a change of name, it marks our transition into a clinical-stage company and reflects what our science is built to do. Our platform is designed to restore the molecular balance that inflammatory disease has disrupted.”
Read the Atisama Therapeutics press release
