Roche has inked a $50.4 million deal to use Tekmira Pharmaceuticals' technology to advance its two leading RNAi candidates into the clinic. Tekmira will get $18.4 million in support up to the filing of IND applications and up to $32 million in milestones as the products advance through development and into commercialization.
"This agreement is consistent with our strategy of working with leading pharmaceutical companies to help them advance products based on our SNALP technology, and to leverage this work in order to advance our own products," said Tekimira CEO Dr. Mark J. Murray.
"We are enthusiastic about the potential of RNAi therapeutics for patients with hard-to-treat diseases," said Dr. Louis Renzetti, head of RNA therapeutics at Roche. "We believe Tekmira's SNALP is the leading lipid nanoparticle delivery technology and we are confident that Tekmira's research and manufacturing capabilities will help us to meet our product development objectives."
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