STA, 21 April 2021 - The National Institute of Biology (Nacionalni inštitut za biologijo - NIB) has licenced its gene therapy know-how and technology to a spin-off called Niba Labs, which will develop and commercialise technologies for the characterisation and quantification of therapeutic viruses used in gene therapy.
"The path leading to this moment has been long, for we have conducted a lot of basic research that has helped us to build up top-level know-how in virology and develop methods that will now be applied," NIB director Maja Ravnikar said on Wednesday.
Ravnikar said the new company, the NIB's second spin-off, would operate on the global market and collaborate with all Slovenian biotech firms in this segment.
The revenue from the licensing of the technology will be reinvested into research. The NIB and Niba Labs will continue collaborating on the research and commercialisation of the technologies.
According to Niba Labs' head of R&D, David Dobnik, the technology involves deploying viruses to act as delivery vehicles for replacement genes in the treatment of genetic conditions.
