Tekmira Acquires Worldwide License to Novel RNAi Technology

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation recently announced it has obtained a worldwide, non-exclusive license to a novel RNAi payload technology called Unlocked Nucleobase Analog (UNA) from Marina Biotech, Inc. for the development of RNAi therapeutics.

UNA technology can be used in the development of RNAi therapeutics, which treat disease by silencing specific disease-causing genes. UNAs can be incorporated into RNAi drugs and have the potential to improve them by increasing their stability and reducing off-target effects.

“Our license to Marina’s UNA technology expands and diversifies our foundation of technologies that enable us to develop RNAi therapeutics. With Tekmira’s leading LNP delivery technology, a strong balance sheet, and access to multiple RNAi payload technologies, we are well positioned to aggressively advance multiple products into human clinical trials,” said Dr. Mark J. Murray, Tekmira’s President and CEO.

“We intend to leverage our expertise in LNP delivery and our broad understanding of therapeutic RNA payload design to optimize the use of UNA in our development pipeline, as well as provide pharmaceutical partners the opportunity to license UNAs combined with our LNP delivery technology to develop RNAi therapeutics,” added Dr. Murray.

Under the license agreement, Tekmira has received worldwide, non-exclusive rights to Marina Biotech’s UNA technology for the development of RNAi therapeutic products, and Marina will receive an upfront payment plus milestone and royalty payments on products developed by Tekmira that use UNA technology. Financial terms of the license agreement were not disclosed.

Unlocked Nucleobase Analogs (UNA) are acyclic ribonucleoside analogs in which the bond between C2′ and C3′ atoms is broken. This change in sugar structure renders this nucleoside analog very flexible. This characteristic is in contrast to the widely used locked nucleosides that lock the sugar conformation by a bridged bond between C2′ and C4′ atoms.

The flexible nature of UNA reduces the binding affinity between two strands of an RNAi drug and gives unique characteristics to its gene-silencing abilities. Marina Biotech has demonstrated that UNA has the potential to improve RNAi therapeutics by increasing stability and reducing sense and antisense mediated off-target effects while retaining potency.

Tekmira believes its LNP technology represents the most widely adopted delivery technology for the systemic delivery of RNAi therapeutics. Tekmira’s LNP platform is being utilized in multiple clinical trials by both Tekmira and its partners. Tekmira’s LNP technology (formerly referred to as stable nucleic acid-lipid particles or SNALP) encapsulates siRNAs with high efficiency in uniform lipid nanoparticles that are effective in delivering RNAi therapeutics to disease sites in numerous preclinical models.

Tekmira’s LNP formulations are manufactured by a proprietary method which is robust, scalable, and highly reproducible, and LNP-based products have been reviewed by multiple FDA divisions for use in clinical trials. LNP formulations comprise several lipid components that can be adjusted to suit the specific application.

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company focused on advancing novel RNAi therapeutics and providing its leading lipid nanoparticle delivery technology to pharmaceutical partners. Tekmira has been working in the field of nucleic acid delivery for over a decade and has broad intellectual property covering LNPs. For more information, visit www.tekmirapharm.com.