SomaGenics presents at the Innovations in Wound Healing Conference

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Santa Cruz, CA, December 2021- SomaGenics, Inc. presented study results for its novel sshRNA®- based combination therapy to treat diabetic foot ulcers to the Innovations in Wound Healing Conference in Duck Key, FL.  

SomaGenics’ NIH-funded research demonstrated accelerated wound healing in a diabetic rabbit model by restoring the normal wound-healing response. The research was a collaboration with Dr. Aristidis Veves of Harvard Medical School, whose lab provided the diabetic rabbit model, and Dr. Paula Hammond of MIT whose lab provided the novel layer-by-layer formulation of SomaGenics’ therapeutic RNAs onto a wound dressing. 

 

Somagenics website: www.somagenics.com

Contact: Anne Scholz, 831 426 7700 ext. 17

SomaGenics presents at the NIH Innovation Conference and the Life Science Summit Company Showcase

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October 4, 2021 — SomaGenics presented its novel wound healing therapeutic based on the sshRNA RNAi technology to the NIH Innovation Conference. SomaGenics also presented to investors at the Life Sciences Summit, held November 9-10, 2021. 

As a result of its NIH SBIR funding for the wound healing program, SomaGenics was subsidized by the NIH SEED program to present free of charge to these life sciences investor conferences and, with other such participants, received valuable coaching and feedback from the venture capital investment community.

SomaGenics Awarded National Human Genome Research Institute Phase II SBIR Grant

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August 1, 2020  SomaGenics was awarded NIH grant, “Advanced Method for Preparing cell-free DNA Sequencing Libraries” to  develop improved methods to study short cfDNA (especially ultrashort [<60nt]) fragments and their modifications which provide a more sensitive and accurate biological signal for the early detection of cancer and other diseases, according to Sergei Kazakov, VP Research and PI on the grant.  SomaGenics is pursuing this opportunity by developing its novel ss-cfDNA-Seq technology, HASL-freeTM-Seq (Hairpin Adapter Splint-assisted Ligation for range-extended Sequencing) for the sensitive and accurate detection of short and ultrashort ss-cfDNA. 

SomaGenics expects the research to contribute to the understanding of the full spectrum of the cfDNA population in patient samples and will enable the identification of potential biomarkers of a novel class—ultra-short cfDNA fragments and their modifications—further supporting efforts to develop liquid biopsy technologies for comprehensive early cancer detection and treatment. 

Contact: Anne Scholz

ascholz@somagenics.com

SomaGenics awarded NIH funding for diabetic foot ulcer therapy

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Santa Cruz, CA, November 2019 — SomaGenics, Inc. announced the receipt of a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to develop its novel sshRNA®-based combination therapy to treat diabetic foot ulcers.

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are one of the most devastating complications of diabetes, occurring in nearly 25% of patients.  The costs related to DFUs to both patients and the healthcare system are enormous and there is a pressing need for novel therapeutic strategies to better manage DFU patients.  

SomaGenics’ NIH-funded research seeks to accelerate wound healing in diabetic patients by restoring the normal wound-healing response which is impaired in these patients.  “We are encouraged by our results to date; we have been able to show a therapeutically significant increase in rate of wound closure in a diabetic mouse model,” stated Brian Johnston, Ph.D., CEO of SomaGenics, Inc.

The new NIH grant funding allows SomaGenics to complete in vivo testing in a second animal model (rabbit) to support the Company’s IND application to the FDA. 

Somagenics website: www.somagenics.com

Contact: Anne Scholz, 831 426 7700 ext. 17

SomaGenics Advances Wound Healing Program with US Patent Award

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Santa Cruz, CA - November, 2019   SomaGenics, Inc. today announced the issue of US Patent No. 10,450,569 entitled “Methods and Compositions of Short Small Hairpin RNAs and microRNAs for Wound Healing.”  The patent covers the Company’s’ therapeutic candidates and combination therapy to treat chronic wounds.

SomaGenics has developed a novel treatment to directly target a physiological defect that obstructs healing of chronic wounds. The Company’s RNA-based therapy, which utilizes a specialized wound dressing, provides slow release of a combination of modified RNAs targeting separate parts of the wound healing pathway.

“Our preclinical data clearly demonstrate an acceleration of healing in an animal model of chronic wound healing compared to controls.  They also support the theoretical mechanism of action, which is the inhibition of key regulators of the wound healing pathway.  The ability to deliver the active therapeutics using a topical dressing provides an additional advantage to the patient in terms of cost, treatment compliance and effectiveness,” commented Dr. Brian Johnston, CEO of SomaGenics.  

SomaGenics’ RNA-based therapeutic platform shows promise as a new treatment modality for chronic diabetic wounds, conditions for which existing treatment options are often ineffective. 

SomaGenics is a privately held biotech company with offices and laboratories located in Santa Cruz, Calif. The Company specializes in developing innovative technologies that focus on RNA molecules as therapeutic agents and targets as well as biomarkers. The company's therapeutic platform includes sshRNA therapeutic candidates for wound healing and viral hepatitis.

Contact: Anne Scholz, 831 426 7700 ext. 17.

SomaGenics strengthens its IP and technology position in small RNA analysis and biomarker discovery with new patent and publication

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Santa Cruz, CA, September 2018 - SomaGenics announced today the issue of US Patent 10,041,107, a continuation of SomaGenics’ patent family entitled “Methods and Compositions for Detection of small RNAs.” The new patent broads protection for SomaGenics’ innovative, circularization-based approaches to accurately detect and quantify small RNAs, including key technologies incorporated in SomaGenics’ RealSeq® NGS sequencing kits for total RNA samples and for biofluids. 

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SomaGenics selected to present at Military Health System Research Symposium 2018

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Santa Cruz, CA, August 2018 - SomaGenics, Inc. has been selected to present its work in chronic wound healing at the Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS),  August 20-23rd in Kissimmee FL.  The Company will present a talk titled, “Skin Regeneration & Scar Mitigation - Acceleration of Wound Healing with PHD2- and miR-210-targeting Oligonucleotides.” 

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SomaGenics launches its RealSeq®-biofluids kit and advances liquid biopsy development with new NIH funding for cf-miRNA NGS technology

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Santa Cruz, CA, May 2018 - SomaGenics announced the launch of RealSeq®-biofluids, a next-generation sequencing (NGS) library construction kit sensitive enough to detect small RNAs from cell-free biofluids. Further enhancing its efforts in the liquid biopsy arena, SomaGenics has received a 3-year Phase II SBIR grant from the NIH for the development of RealSeq®-T, a technology enabling extraction-free, targeted NGS of small RNAs directly from biofluids.

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SomaGenics Announces Upcoming Data Presentations of its Wound Healing Therapeutic Program

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Santa Cruz, CA, April 2018 - SomaGenics, Inc. today announced two forthcoming presentations and a publication on preclinical results of its wound healing therapeutic program. SomaGenics’ NIH-funded project to accelerate wound healing in diabetic patients aims at restoring the normal wound-healing response, which is impaired in diabetics.

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SomaGenics receives award or allowance of four patents covering its small RNA analysis and therapeutics

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Santa Cruz, CA, December 2017 – SomaGenics Inc. expands its IP protection with three newly issued patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office covering two of the Company’s core RNA detection technologies: targeted small RNA sequencing (RealSeq®-T) and quantitative PCR analysis of RNA fragments (ResQ®), as well as SomaGenics’ therapeutic sshRNA®s. A patent covering RealSeq®-T was also allowed by the European Patent Office.

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SomaGenics awarded NIH funding to develop NGS Single-Cell analysis of small RNAs

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Santa Cruz, CA, October 2017- SomaGenics announced the receipt of a Phase I SBIR grant from NIH to develop RealSeq®-SC (Single Cell), expected to be the first commercially available library preparation kit for profiling small RNAs (including microRNAs) from single cells using NGS methods. NIH's recent Single Cell Analysis Program highlights the need to accelerate development of approaches to analyze the heterogeneity of cell populations.

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SomaGenics awarded NIH funding to develop novel cell-free-DNA liquid biopsy platform

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Santa Cruz, CA, May 2017- SomaGenics announced the receipt of a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute to support extension of its RealSeq® platform to the sequence analysis of highly fragmented cell-free DNA (cf-DNA).  The original version of this platform technology, RealSeq®-AC, allows construction of unbiased libraries for next-generation sequencing of small RNAs (such as microRNAs) and short fragments of large RNAs.  The new grant, entitled Advanced method for preparing cell-free (cf) DNA sequencing libraries, will support development of the DNA version, called RealSeq®-DC, and demonstration of its expected superiority over currently available methods for fragmented DNA-seq library preparation.

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SomaGenics Presents RNAi Therapeutic Program

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Santa Cruz, CA, May, 2017 – SomaGenics’ President and CEO, Brian Johnston, Ph.D., recently presented an invited seminar, “Treating chronic diabetic wounds: A small RNA approach,” to the Institute for RNA Medicine of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, just renamed the Harvard Medical School Initiative on RNA Medicine (IRM).  SomaGenics’ novel synthetic short hairpin RNA (sshRNA®) platform has been used to develop therapeutic candidates for chronic diabetic wounds as well as treatments for hepatitis delta virus.  Dr. Johnson was invited to serve on the IRM Business Advisory Board.  “I am looking forward to the opportunity to work with the IRM’s scientists and stakeholders and hope to contribute to advancing RNA-based treatments across many therapeutic areas.”

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SomaGenics presented research progress at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care and Wound Healing Society

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Santa Cruz, CA, April 2017 – SomaGenics presented recent progress in its wound healing therapeutic program at the joint meeting of the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care and the Wound Healing Society (SAWC/WHS) in San Diego.   Brian Johnston, Ph.D., CEO of SomaGenics discussed SomaGenics’ use of its sshRNA® (synthetic short hairpin RNA) platform to treat chronic wounds in a diabetic animal model in a talk entitled “Treating chronic diabetic wounds: A small RNA approach.”  

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SomaGenics Granted New Patents for RNA Detection and RNA-based Therapeutics Technologies

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SANTA CRUZ, Calif., November 2016 – SomaGenics, an RNA-focused biotechnology company, announced expansion of its intellectual property portfolio with issue of two new patents for its RNA analysis technologies (miR-ID® and RealSeq®) and European patent protection for its therapeutic short synthetic hairpin RNA (sshRNA) agents.

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Rubicon Genomics Licenses Commercialization Rights from SomaGenics for Its RealSeq®-AC Technology for High-Throughput Sequencing of Small RNAs

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Santa Cruz, Calif. July 28 2016 - SomaGenics Inc. today announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with Rubicon Genomics, Inc. for commercialization of SomaGenics’ RealSeq®-AC library preparation technology for sequencing small RNAs, including micro-RNAs and small fragments of large RNAs.  Further terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

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