Quiet Therapeutics

Quiet Therapeutics was a biopharmaceutical company founded in 2010 by Professor Dan Peer and Professor Rimona Margalit, with its headquarters in Ness Ziona, Israel. The firm operated as a portfolio company of Pontifax and Arkin Holdings and was established within an incubator program supported by the Israeli Office of the Chief Scientist. The company's core focus was the development of a proprietary, nanoparticle-based drug delivery system called GAGomers. This platform was engineered to specifically target cancer cells and deliver therapeutic payloads, such as chemotherapy, RNAi, and other small-molecule drugs, directly to tumors and sites of inflammation.

The GAGomer technology, licensed from Tel Aviv University, utilizes glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), specifically hyaluronic acid, to wrap lipid nanoparticles. This design leverages the natural affinity of GAGs for biomarkers like CD44v, which are overexpressed on certain cancer cells, to achieve targeted delivery. In January 2013, Quiet Therapeutics secured $5.5 million in a Series A funding round involving investors Pontifax, Arkin Holdings, and Gefen Biomed Investments. The funding was structured in tranches, contingent on the success of an initial feasibility study. The company also had a collaborative agreement with Roche Holding, which held the rights to one of its products. In November 2014, the scientific co-founders, Professors Margalit and Peer, received the Untold News Award for their work on the GAGomer platform. Despite its promising technology and early-stage backing, the company eventually ceased operations, with a liquidation event recorded in January 2017.

Keywords: GAGomer, nanoparticle drug delivery, targeted cancer therapy, biopharmaceutical, RNAi delivery, chemotherapy delivery, hyaluronic acid nanoparticles, CD44v targeting, Pontifax, Arkin Holdings, Dan Peer, Rimona Margalit, oncology therapeutics, lipid nanoparticles, drug delivery platform, biopharma, life sciences, venture capital, Israel.