Silence Therapeutics, a leader in the discovery, development and delivery of novel short interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) therapeutics for the treatment of diseases with significant unmet medical need, and Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Company Limited, one of the leading biopharmaceutical companies in China, have revealed a collaboration to develop siRNAs for three undisclosed targets leveraging Silence’s mRNAi GOLD™ platform.
Under the terms of the agreement, Hansoh will have the exclusive option to license rights to the first two targets in Greater China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan following the completion of phase 1 studies.
Silence will retain exclusive rights for those two targets in all other territories. Silence will be responsible for all activities up to option exercise and will retain responsibility for development outside the China region post phase 1 studies.
Hansoh will also have the exclusive option to license global rights to a third target at the point of IND filing. Hansoh will be responsible for all development activities post option exercise for the third target.
Hansoh will make a $16 million upfront payment and Silence is eligible to receive up to $1.3 billion in additional development, regulatory and commercial milestones. Silence will also receive royalties tiered from low double-digit to mid-teens on Hansoh net product sales.
Mark Rothera, President and Chief Executive Officer of Silence Therapeutics, said: “We believe Hansoh’s extensive clinical development and commercialization experience in China make them an ideal partner.
“This collaboration is a good example of our hybrid model in action, balancing proprietary and partnered programs to maximize the substantial opportunity of our mRNAi GOLD™ platform for targeting disease associated genes in the liver.
“The Hansoh partnership enables us to move two new proprietary programs forward subsidized by non-dilutive capital while also gaining access to the second largest pharmaceutical market globally.”
Eliza Sun, Executive Director of the Board of Hansoh Pharma, said: “We are excited to partner with Silence, a pioneer in siRNA therapeutic development with decades of scientific and technical experience.
“As one of the largest biopharma in China, Hansoh strives to partner with innovative companies globally to build out and advance our robust pipeline spanning across multiple therapeutic areas. We see substantial opportunity in Silence’s mRNAi GOLD™ platform to develop and bring better precision-based medicines to patients across China and worldwide.”
