Oligonucleotides & mRNA Vaccines Dominate in Strategic Alliances for RNA Therapies in Major APAC Countries

RNA-based therapies have already proven and will continue to play an integral role in the development of novel therapeutic agents for diseases in the future. Against this backdrop, biopharmaceutical companies based in the major Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries (Australia, China, Japan, and South Korea) entered into significant partnerships to develop RNA-based therapies in the last five years. Among all the strategic alliance deals focused on RNA-based therapies, the majority of the deals are focused on oligonucleotides and mRNA vaccines, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s Pharmaceutical Intelligence Center Deals Database, over the last five years (2019-2023), 59 strategic alliance deals were observed in Australia, China, Japan, and South Korea. Among these, 28 deals were made for oligonucleotides, 20 for mRNA vaccines, and 11 for other molecule types namely, aptamers and gene therapy. Oligonucleotides accounted for 47.4% of the total deals, mRNA vaccines 33.8%, and other molecule types namely, aptamers and gene therapy contributed 18.6%.

Strategic alliance deals observed for mRNA vaccines focused on only two therapy areas: infectious disease and oncology, whereas deals for oligonucleotides focused on varied therapy areas.

Nelluri Geetha, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments “The highest development phase among deals observed for oligonucleotides over the past five years is only Phase III, but for mRNA vaccines, deals were made for two approved drugs, Cominarty and Spikevax, both of which target COVID-19. These deals include BioNTech SE and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co Ltd for Cominarty in March 2020, with a deal value of $135 million, and Moderna Inc and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd for Spikevax in October 2020.”

The top deal over the past five years is observed for antisense RNAi oligonucleotide between Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd (China-based) and Silence Therapeutics Plc (US-based) in 2021, with a deal value of $1.3 billion.

Geetha continues “The rapid development of mRNA vaccines in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic has led to a resurgence of interest in RNA therapies, thereby, the number of deals focused on mRNA therapies has increased over the past four years. RNA-therapies hold great promise for combating human diseases such as infectious diseases, cancer, neurodegeneration, metabolic disorders, and rare genetic diseases.”

Notably, among the ongoing Phase I, II, and III clinical trials for RNA-based therapies, mRNA vaccines alone are responsible for 48%, followed by oligonucleotides at 42% in Australia, China, Japan, and South Korea.

Geetha concludes “The growing pipeline of RNA-based therapies for various diseases would bring new treatment approaches for unmet medical needs. Also, with the development of more diverse RNA-based drugs in the future, more partnerships for oligonucleotides and mRNA vaccines are expected, thereby improving the RNA-based therapy landscape in the APAC region.”

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