L to R: KV Subramaniam (President, Reliance Life Sciences) and Prof. Abhay Karandikar (Director, IIT Kanpur) at the MoU exchange ceremony.

Kanpur: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, has licensed a pioneering technology to Reliance Life Sciences that has the potential to revolutionise gene therapy for hereditary eye diseases.

It is for the first time a gene related technology has been developed and transferred from an academic institution to a company in India, IIT Kanpur said.

The gene therapy technology from IIT Kanpur will be further developed as an indigenous product by Reliance Life Sciences.

The technology licensing agreement was signed on Friday, 10 March, 2023, between IIT Kanpur and Reliance Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. at a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) exchange ceremony in the presence of several dignitaries, including Professor Abhay Karandikar (Director, IIT Kanpur), and KV Subramaniam (Licensee & President of Reliance Life Sciences).

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to work with IIT Kanpur to further develop this important technology, Reliance Life Sciences is a research-driven, medical biotechnology company and we are thrilled to collaborate and take forward this innovative technology to commercialisation.” KV Subramaniam said.

Professor Karandikar said: “Gene therapy using viral vectors has recently emerged as a potent tool in the field of molecular medicine. We believe that this technology holds great promise for treating a wide range of hereditary eye diseases including Leber congenital amaurosis, an eye disorder that is present from birth; and Retinitis pigmentosa, a disease causing progressive sustained vision loss.”

Developed by Professor Jayandharan Giridhara Rao and Shubham Maurya from Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering (BSBE), IIT Kanpur, the patented technology modifies the gene of an organism to treat a hereditary disorder.

In this case, the site refers to a specific location on an Adeno-associated virus (AAV) (viral vector) used for gene therapy. The technology modifies this location to optimise its ability to deliver genes to the affected cells and improve its effectiveness. The technology has the ability to improve gene therapy for many hereditary diseases, especially inherited eye diseases. It has shown significant promise in correcting the vision impairment in animal models of blindness.

What is gene therapy?

Gene therapy is one of the most potent applications of recombinant DNA technology wherein pieces of DNA from multiple sources are combined to efficiently deliver the healthy copy of the faulty gene in a manner that production of protein from the introduced gene is sustained for life. To enable this, the therapeutic DNA molecule is delivered using a virus that can infect human cells.

For successful clinical application, several optimisation of the basic process is needed aimed at ensuring adequate expression of the desired gene.

Reliance Life Sciences is developing several gene therapies to address unmet clinical needs. In addition to gene therapies, Reliance Life Sciences is developing a range of human and animal health vaccines and mRNA products.

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