Silence Therapeutics signs siRNA r&d collaboration with AstraZeneca
UK- and German-based Silence Therapeutics has entered into an r&d collaboration with AstraZeneca (AZ), primarily in the respiratory field.
UK- and German-based Silence Therapeutics has entered into an r&d collaboration with AstraZeneca (AZ), primarily in the respiratory field.
Silence Therapeutics will receive initial access fees, clinical development and commercial milestone payments of up to £200m (US$400m) plus royalties on product sales.
The three-year collaboration is designed to discover and develop proprietary siRNA molecules against up to five specific targets provided by AZ. Silence Therapeutics and AZ will jointly collaborate in the early phase of identification and optimisation of novel siRNA molecules. AZ will retain full responsibility for the clinical development and commercialisation.
The agreement is primarily in the respiratory field but includes an option to allow for targets that extend the collaboration into other disease areas of interest to AZ.
Silence Therapeutics has developed novel, proprietary siRNA molecules, AtuRNAi that provide a number of advantages over conventional siRNA molecules as they show increased stability against nuclease degradation. In addition, the Company has developed a proprietary systemic delivery system, AtuPLEX, which enables the delivery of siRNA molecules to targeted diseased tissues and cells, while increasing their bioavailability and intracellular uptake.
Silence Therapeutics has sublicensed the AtuRNAi compound RTP-801i to Pfizer through its collaboration partner Quark Biotech for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and a number of other indications. This compound entered the clinic in early 2007. A further AtuRNAi compound licensed to Quark Biotech, AKIi-5, has been granted an IND for acute kidney injury and is expected to enter the clinic in 2007.
Silence Therapeutics expects to begin the clinical development of its proprietary AtuRNAi therapeutic molecules for systemic cancer indications, such as gastrointestinal and non-small lung cancer, in 2008.
"This transaction provides further validation of the potential application of Silence Therapeutics" proprietary AtuRNAi molecules and our leading position in the fast developing field of RNAi therapeutics, said Iain Ross, chairman of Silence Therapeutics. "We look forward to working with AstraZeneca to develop new RNAi therapeutics for the treatment of respiratory diseases, while concurrently continuing to create further significant shareholder value via the development of our proprietary oncology pipeline."