Jorna Therapeutics and ONO Pharmaceutical Announce Strategic Partnership to Accelerate Innovation in RNA Editing

Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 21, 2025 – Jorna Therapeutics, a biotechnology company based in Cambridge, MA (“Jorna”), and Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a leading pharmaceutical company headquartered in Osaka, Japan (“Ono”), today announced a strategic partnership to advance an undisclosed therapeutic program. This collaboration combines Jorna’s cutting-edge RNA editing platform technologies with Ono’s extensive expertise in drug discovery and clinical development. Together, the companies aim to revolutionize the field of RNA-based therapeutics and deliver transformative treatments to patients worldwide.

The partnership brings together complementary strengths from both companies. Jorna Therapeutics, with its cutting-edge AI-designed RNA editors, has demonstrated promising preclinical results in several disease models. Ono Pharmaceutical's global experience in drug discovery and clinical development will help bring these innovative therapies to patients around the world more efficiently and effectively.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Ono to advance our shared vision of delivering groundbreaking therapies to patients. This partnership is expected to accelerate efforts to bring RNA editing-based therapies to market by leveraging Ono's global resources and expertise,” said Chengwei Luo, PhD, Founder and CEO of Jorna Therapeutics.

“We highly value Jorna's unique generative AI technologies, which combine large-scale amino acid sequence information and language models to design desired proteins. Through this partnership, we aim to accelerate drug development using RNA editing technology and provide new treatment options to patients around the world with unmet medical needs,” said Seishi Katsumata, PhD, Corporate Officer / Executive Director, Discovery & Research of Ono Pharmaceutical.

The ultimate goal of the partnership is to improve the patients’ quality of life. By pooling their resources, scientific knowledge, and global networks, Jorna Therapeutics and Ono Pharmaceutical are working to bring novel, effective therapies to the patients faster. This collaboration marks an important step toward addressing unmet medical needs with a novel approach.

As part of the strategic partnership, Jorna Therapeutics and Ono Pharmaceutical have agreed to a financial arrangement that reflects the mutual confidence both companies have in the success of this collaboration. In addition to the upfront payment already made to Jorna, Jorna will also receive research funding and milestone payments based on the progress of the research.

About ONO Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. delivers innovative therapies for patients worldwide. Upholding its philosophy of “Dedicated to the Fight against Disease and Pain,” Ono targets areas with unmet medical needs including oncology, immunology, and neurology, and fosters partnerships with academic and biotech organizations to accelerate drug discovery. Through its affiliate,