Marina Biotech Continues to Build Worldwide Patent Protection for SMARTICLES

Marina Biotech, Inc. recently announced that a decision to grant a patent has been issued for the company’s fundamental SMARTICLES delivery technology in Japan (Ser. No. 2010-211089). The claims of this National Stage Application cover fundamental amphoteric liposomes made with preferred amphipathic components, and are a combination of a weak, but variable, anionic charge carrier and a weak cationic charge carrier.

The granted claims cover amphoteric liposomes that are suitable for designing specific formulation systems for both the controlled- and sustained-release of nucleic acid therapeutic cargos, including RNA, DNA, antisense, and nucleic acid decoys. In addition, the granted claims cover pharmaceutical preparations made from the amphoteric liposomes, a key to successful commercialization of the therapeutics.

“In view of our other intellectual property announcements over the past 6 months, it is clear we have established a rapid pace for the grant and issuance of patents covering the heart of our therapeutic capabilities – nucleic acid delivery,” said J. Michael French, President and CEO at Marina Biotech. “With this decision to grant from the Japan Patent Office, Marina Biotech continues to expand the scope of granted intellectual property covering the fundamental components of our SMARTICLES delivery technology. To date, similar claims in this patent family have been granted for SMARTICLES technology in Europe and the US. Thus, this decision to grant reflects worldwide market coverage of our SMARTICLES delivery capabilities. The expanding patent coverage for both our DiLA(2) and SMARTICLES delivery technologies continues to establish our competitive advantage in delivering nucleic acid-based therapeutics.”

SMARTICLES is currently in clinical development through licensees ProNAi Therapeutics, Inc. and Mirna Therapeutics, Inc. in both a Phase II trial delivering a single-stranded DNA decoy and in a Phase I trial delivering a double-stranded microRNA mimic, respectively. In December 2013, at the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Hematology in New Orleans, ProNAi presented safety and efficacy data from its ongoing Phase II study. ProNAi presented data demonstrating that PNT2258, their first-in-class BCL2 targeted drug, exhibited single agent anti-tumor activity in patients with recurrent or refractory Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Further, PNT2258 is safe at a dose of 120 mg/m2 IV administered for 2 to 3 hours on days 1 to 5 of a 21-day schedule. No tumor lysis syndrome or major organ toxicities were observed. No occurrences of elevated liver enzymes, hyperkalemia, hyperphosphatemia, hypocalcemia, renal failure/dysfunction, or infections were noted.

Marina Biotech is an oligonucleotide therapeutics company with a broad drug discovery platform providing the ability to develop proprietary single and double-stranded nucleic acid therapeutics including siRNAs, microRNA mimics, antagomirs, and antisense compounds, including messengerRNA therapeutics. The platform was built via a roll-up strategy to discover and develop different types of nucleic acid therapeutics in order to modulate (up or down) a specific protein(s), which is either being produced too much or too little, thereby causing a particular disease. For more information, visit www.marinabio.com.