Moderna Launches Spin-Off for mRNA-Based Cancer Drugs
With a $110-million financing round and big-time deals with AstraZeneca and Alexion Pharmaceuticals in the bag, biotech company Moderna Therapeutics’ next big move is to spin its pipeline of cancer drug candidates into a new, separate venture.
Moderna indicated it’s committing $20 million to the new company, Onkaido Therapeutics. Leveraging Moderna’s mRNA Therapeutics platform, Onkaido will develop potential new cancer treatments aimed at targets not addressed through current approaches, the company said. Initially, it will focus on 15 preclinical drug candidates from Moderna.
“Moderna Therapeutics focuses on developing and commercializing the world’s best mRNA technology platform. This goal is independent of developing best-in-class treatments,” said Dr. Stephen Hoge, Moderna’s SVP of corporate development and the Founding CEO of Onkaido Therapeutics. “Onkaido was launched to enable a team to focus solely on the development of mRNA oncology drugs.”
Moderna’s approach employs messenger RNA, which acts as a blueprint for protein production in cell cytoplasm, to enable the body to make its own healing proteins. Last year, AstraZeneca paid $240 million upfront for access to 40 drug candidates based on the technology, and Alexion Pharmaceuticals just announced a $25-million investment and $100-million drug development deal with Moderna.
Although mRNA-based therapies are a new modality of treatment, there are a few other companies working in this space. Germany-based Ethris, for example, is developing modified mRNAs as drugs, and CureVac is developing mRNA vaccines (including a flu vaccine partnership with Janssen). Cambridge-based Moderna was founded in late 2010 by Flagship VentureLabs. For more information, visit www.modernatx.com.
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