Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a developer of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics, has formed a licensing and collaboration agreement with Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Tekmira has licensed its proprietary lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technology for exclusive use in Dicerna’s primary hyperoxaluria Type 1 (PH1) development program. Dicerna is focused on developing drugs targeting rare inherited diseases involving the liver and for cancers that are genetically defined. Dicerna is using a proprietary RNAi technology platform, which the company believes improves upon existing RNAi technologies, to build a broad pipeline in these therapeutic areas.

Under the agreement, Dicerna will pay Tekmira $2.5 million upfront and payments of $22 million in aggregate development milestones, plus a mid-single-digit royalty on future PH1 sales. This new partnership also includes a supply agreement with Tekmira providing clinical drug supply and regulatory support for the advancement of the product candidate.

The agreement follows the successful testing and demonstration of positive results combining Tekmira’s LNP technology with DCR-PH1 in pre-clinical animal models.

Dicerna will use Tekmira’s third-generation LNP technology for delivery of DCR-PH1, Dicerna’s Dicer substrate RNA (DsiRNA) molecule, for the treatment of PH1, a rare, inherited liver disorder that often results in kidney failure and for which there are no approved therapies.

Source: Tekmira