An Ecosystem for Lipid Nanoparticles

Why Evonik established a presence in Vancouver and Cambridge: to be close to cutting-edge science, innovative startups, and the next breakthroughs in RNA delivery

Pieter Cullis often dons dark blue suits for official events, but in his University of British Columbia lab, white takes center stage. His unruly white hair and bright white lab coat lend him a professorial air, while ideas for papers and projects are scrawled in white marker on the large fifth-floor window overlooking the atrium of the Life Sciences Centre.

Amid this setting, a small snowflake-shaped lapel pin might go unnoticed, but it serves as a subtle emblem of great distinction. Adorned with a golden maple leaf, the white pin marks Cullis as an Officer of the Order of Canada, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors.

Recognized for his pioneering work in lipid nanoparticle technology—a key component of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines—the Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is far more than a typical academic. Cullis is a serial entrepreneur whose four decades of perseverance have supported the rise of nucleic acid-based medicines and the technologies for their precise delivery.

Preferring the term “scientific entrepreneur”, Cullis is widely regarded as the driving force behind Vancouver’s emergence as a biotech and life sciences hub, rivaling established industry centers like Boston and San Francisco.

Messenger RNA takes center stage

For years, nucleic acid-based therapeutics and the lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) that deliver them into human cells were primarily known to scientists—despite successful clinical trials, new drugs targeting rare diseases, and breakthroughs addressing adverse reactions in LNP formulations. The COVID-19 pandemic changed that, thrusting mRNA into the public spotlight as a global acronym for hope.

Messenger ribonucleic acid (RNA) carries instructions for the body to produce proteins, while LNPs—little bubbles of lipids—encapsulate and protect the genetic material. As the world learned this new scientific vocabulary in 2020, the focus has since shifted to the vast future potential of RNA therapeutics and LNPs.

Potential applications span cancer, HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, brain diseases, cardiovascular conditions, and genetic disorders. “For now, cancer applications look particularly interesting,” says Cullis, pointing to personalized cancer vaccines nearing clinical trials with the promise of much higher cure rates than chemotherapy. That has been his long-time goal. “Since the 1980s, we’ve been working on getting cancer drugs as specifically to the tumor as possible,” Cullis says.

Beyond cancer, there are many rare diseases. “Imagine a child born unable to produce a specific protein. You could save that child’s life by using medicines that instruct the liver to produce the missing protein—medicines that could be developed in just a few months. It is enormously exciting.”

An early shift to a promising technology

Evonik positioned itself early for the shift to nucleic acid-based medicines. In 2016, the company acquired Transferra Nanosciences—formerly Northern Lipids, one of Cullis’ early commercial ventures—thereby securing a foothold in Vancouver’s lipid‑delivery ecosystem and expanding its capabilities in injectable drug delivery services. The strategy was straightforward: Be where science meets entrepreneurialism, so ideas can move quickly from bench to process to clinic.

“We are on the cusp of a revolution,” says Mike Parr, Global Head, Strategic and Technical Marketing at Evonik’s Vancouver Labs, who studied under Cullis in the 1990s and later did postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School. “The pandemic has accelerated the promise of nucleic acids delivered via LNPs.”

One active program supported by Evonik’s Vancouver Labs is ETH47, an mRNA-based antiviral designed to prevent virus-induced asthma attacks by bolstering innate defenses in the airways. Last year, the Munich-based biotech company Ethris announced a Phase 2a trial for the therapeutic which is administered as an intranasal spray. To help eliminate potential side effects to LNPs, Evonik is also developing and testing a novel type of structure for PEG lipids, one of the four main lipids in LNPs.

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Source: Evonik, Norbert Kuls, website An Ecosystem for Lipid Nanoparticles An Ecosystem for Lipid Nanoparticles