Tinker Therapeutics

Tinker Therapeutics is a pre-clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel multi-targeting oligonucleotide therapeutics focused on neurodegenerative disease. Tinker's proprietary FORGE platform, leveraging cross-species translational screening, unlocks unparalleled design and optimization of multimer ASO and siRNA constructs with tunable cleavable linkers in dimer, trimer, and tetramer configurations. Monomers are individually modified with a novel conjugate and proprietary chemical group for superior CNS distribution and durable knockdown which outperforms current best-in-class technology for siRNA-mediated knockdown in all brain regions. This delivers a multi-target payload configuration through a single chemical entities for simultaneous silencing, up-regulation, or precise combinatorial knockdown with finely tuned polypharmacology aligned with disease-specific synergistic gene networks, delivering combinatorial efficacy. Tinker is advancing a pipeline of disease-modifying programs for Alzheimer's Disease and other neurological diseases in addition to partnered programs as part of a strategic collaborations. Tinker was founded in 2024 by Claes Wahlestedt, Ph.D. (h-factor over 110), Jack Stahl, Ph.D., and Arthur Polk based on the research at the Wahlestedt Lab and Center for Therapeutic Innovation at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. Wahlestedt/Scripps gene up-regulation spinout, CuRNA,, was acquired by OPKO in 2011. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed scientific publications, notably pioneering antisense oligonucleotide delivery to the living (rodent) brain, the use of locked nucleic acids (LNA) and other oligo chemistries, and strategies to up-regulate gene expression. Tinker's co-founders were recognized as winners of the 2024 Eli Lilly and Company Genetic Medicine Grand Challenge for novel therapeutic strategy to treat brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and Dravet syndrome.