MDRNA will gain full financial and transactional control of RNAi-based therapeutics.

MDRNA will now have full financial and transactional control of therapeutics developed with its unlocked nucleobase analog technology after revising a May 2008 agreement with RiboTask. MDRNA will no longer pay financial considerations for licensing, development or sales of a UNA-based siRNA for human therapeutic use but may use the technology in reagents and diagnostic platforms.

“In preclinical studies we have completed over the past 12 months, our proprietary UsiRNA constructs have been shown to increase stability, reduce off-target activity and cytokine induction, and improve gene silencing,” says J. Michael French, president and CEO of MDRNA. “These characteristics are key to human therapeutic use of UsiRNA and when formulated with our DilA2 delivery technology, provide a powerful approach to down regulating protein expression via RNAi.”

The company says that changing the agreement will offer it greater flexibility in future collaborations with pharmaceutical companies to commercialize the technology. MDRNA first acquired the rights to the UNA patent portfolio from RiboTask in October 2008.ADNFCR-2184-ID-19227497-ADNFCR


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