Amplitude Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing trans-amplifying RNA (taRNA) medicines and vaccines, today announced a strategic research collaboration and licensing agreement with Eli Lilly and Company to discover and develop taRNA vaccine candidates for infectious diseases. The collaboration will initially focus on undisclosed infectious disease vaccine programs with high unmet need, with Lilly retaining the option to add up to 2 additional infectious disease targets.

Amplitude's taRNA approach is designed to separate the replicase and antigen-encoding RNA components, enabling flexible antigen design, formulation tuning, and dose optimisation across vaccine programs. As compared to other RNA modalities, taRNA may enable enhanced potency, lower doses, and improved manufacturability.

Dr. Cory Sago, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Amplitude Therapeutics, said, "Our ambition at Amplitude is to build a leading in vivo RNA platform by advancing both taRNA and LNP technologies with significant potential to expand what is possible across vaccines and therapeutics. This collaboration gives us the opportunity to translate and validate our taRNA technology across multiple vaccine programs targeting infectious diseases with high unmet need, leveraging Lilly's global development, manufacturing and commercialisation scale."  

Under the agreement, Lilly will receive exclusive, target-specific rights to develop and commercialise licensed products directed to the collaboration targets. Amplitude will lead taRNA optimisation and selected preclinical research activities under agreed research plans, with Lilly responsible for additional preclinical development, clinical development, manufacturing, regulatory activities and commercialisation.