Boston-based Porosome Therapeutics, Inc. has entered a drug development partnership with India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the country's largest governmental R&D organization, covering co-development and licensing of novel therapeutics across at least six disease areas. The deal gives CSIR access to Porosome Therapeutics' proprietary porosome platform — a preclinical-stage, multi-modal drug discovery engine built around the cell's universal secretory machinery — with priority domains spanning Alzheimer's disease, cystic fibrosis, Type 1 and 2 diabetes, COPD, viral infections, and lung cancer. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The porosome, discovered by Porosome Therapeutics Chairman Prof. Bhanu P. Jena, is a nanoscale cup-shaped transmembrane structure present in all secretory cells, functioning as the portal through which vesicular contents are expelled to the extracellular space. The company, the first to develop therapeutics targeting this structure, has built a platform spanning small molecules, peptides, and biologics designed to restore or reconstitute defective porosome function in diseased cells. The scientific premise holds that a range of conditions — from neurodegeneration to impaired insulin secretion — share a common root in porosome-mediated secretory dysfunction.
In 2025, Porosome Therapeutics reported what it described as the first identification of porosome-mediated secretory dysfunction as a mechanism in Alzheimer's disease. The company reported that its candidates reduced the AD biomarker pTau217 and dissociated amyloid plaques in cell line, animal, and human organoid studies, positioning the program as addressing neuronal dysfunction beyond amyloid accumulation alone. The cystic fibrosis program received US FDA Orphan Drug Designation in 2025. No named drug candidates have entered clinical trials.