SiSaf Ltd Announces US$13.2 Million Series B Financing

GUILDFORD, United Kingdom, Nov. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SiSaf Ltd announced today that it has raised US$13.2 million in Series B financing. This funding round was led by Vickers Venture Partners and matched by the UK government's Future Fund.

SiSaf is the creator of Bio-Courier, technology, a non-viral, hybrid carrier system which enables the safe and efficient targeted delivery and transfection of therapeutic small interfering Ribonucleic acids (siRNA).

The funds raised in this financing will be used to accelerate SiSaf's innovative RNA therapeutic programs to treat rare and therapeutically neglected genetic conditions of the bone and eye, as well as to expand the pipeline across multiple debilitating autosomal dominant disorders. 

"We are thrilled to close this first tranche of our series B funding during the extensive restrictions of a global pandemic," said Dr Suzanne Saffie-Siebert, Founder and CEO of SiSaf. "We have long believed that Bio-Courier technology will completely revolutionize RNA therapeutics by addressing the key challenges of stability, specificity, non-immunogenic and nontoxic targeted delivery. This funding will speed up the translation of top scientific research into safe, effective and accessible treatments for patients with no specific treatment options currently available to them."

"We are very excited to continue to back the SiSaf team and their ground-breaking technology and wanted to ensure that no time was lost due to COVID-19," says Dr Finian Tan, Chairman of Vickers Venture Partners. "We believe SiSaf is well on the way to making the most sweeping change to RNA therapeutics ever made, helping to deliver on the promise of true personalized medicine."

siRNA can be used to target nearly all disease-related genes of interest, however, they are one of the most challenging molecules for targeted delivery due their poor cellular uptake, susceptibility to degradation and potential to stimulate an immune response. A recent Journal of Controlled Release¹ publication demonstrates how SiSaf's Bio-Courier technology can efficiently encapsulate siRNA, penetrate all the layers of the cornea following simple eye drop administration and deliver siRNA intracellularly resulting in potent transfection and safe and effective gene silencing.