- Acuitas and Circio have entered an evaluation agreement for in vivo CAR-T cell therapy, an area of rapidly accelerating industry activity
- Circio´s circVec circular RNA expression technology will be tested together with Acuitas´ proprietary T-cell-targeted lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery system
- The aim is to assess whether Acuitas´ LNP technology can be deployed to deliver circVec for novel in vivo CAR-T therapy with superior durability
Oslo, Norway, 15 April 2026 – Circio Holding ASA (OSE: CRNA), a biotechnology company developing novel circular RNA expression technology for gene and cell therapy, today announces that it has initiated a technology evaluation agreement in the area of in vivo CAR-T cell therapy with Acuitas Therapeutics, based in Vancouver, Canada.
In vivo CAR-T cell therapy is a novel therapeutic area of high R&D and deal activity in the pharmaceutical industry. Current mRNA-based approaches are promising, but the short duration of expression of only a few days may limit their efficacy and applicability. Circio has previously reported that its proprietary circVec technology can achieve up to six months expression in lymphocytes in vivo. This feature provides an extended therapeutic window that can open multiple new development opportunities for in vivo cell therapy.
“The in vivo CAR-T field is accelerating rapidly, and two pre-clinical stage circular RNA companies with such programs were recently acquired in major pharma transactions”, said Dr. Victor Levitsky, CSO of Circio. “Acuitas has developed a state-of-the-art LNP delivery platform to specifically deliver Circio´s circVec constructs into T-cells. By combining the unrivaled expression durability of circVec with the delivery precision of Acuitas´ LNPs, we aim to establish a novel in vivo CAR-T concept for cancer and auto-immune diseases where an extended expression window is required.”
As part of the agreement, Acuitas will formulate circVec into their proprietary LNPs designed for active targeting to CD8+ or CD4+ T-cells. Circio will subsequently test the activity and durability of these modified T-cells both in vitro and in vivo. The goal is to determine the therapeutic potential of circVec for in vivo CAR-T therapy in the area of oncology and auto-immune diseases.
“We are excited to begin working with Circio in this technology evaluation agreement, combining our expertise in lipid nanoparticle technology with their circular RNA technology”, said Dr. Ying Tam, CSO of Acuitas Therapeutics. “Through this evaluation, we aim to explore new possibilities in next-generation therapeutics, including in vivo CAR T approaches, and advance the development of transformative treatments for patients.”
About Acuitas Therapeutics
Acuitas Therapeutics Inc., the global leader in lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery systems for nucleic acid therapeutics, is a Vancouver-based company collaborating with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, academic researchers, and global health organizations to advance a broad range of medicines for a variety of diseases.
Acuitas’ clinically validated LNP technology has had a profound global impact — most notably enabling the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, COMIRNATY®, which has protected billions of people in more than 180 countries. Its technology also enables ONPATTRO® by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, the first FDA-approved RNAi therapeutic for treating the rare and fatal disease transthyretin amyloidosis. More recently, Acuitas’ LNP technology has delivered other groundbreaking firsts: the first in-human proof of concept for genome base editing and the first personalized CRISPR therapy.
Today, Acuitas is advancing next-generation LNP to support a variety of therapeutic modalities. This includes targeted LNP for extrahepatic and in vivo CAR T-cell therapies, epigenetic medicines to modulate gene expression without altering DNA, and multivalent vaccines for infectious diseases — such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis — as well as oncology vaccines, including personalized cancer vaccines.
For more information, visit www.acuitastx.com.