MiNA Therapeutics, a pioneer of small activating RNA (RNAa) therapeutics, has announced a research collaboration and licensing agreement option with Nippon Shinyaku, a Japanese-based pharmaceutical company focused on disease areas of high unmet medical need.
The collaboration will allow for the discovery, and potential development and commercialization of RNAa therapeutic candidates targeting rare neurodegenerative diseases for which there are currently no treatment options.
Under the agreement, MiNA Therapeutics will utilize its proprietary RNAa algorithm and technology platform to identify and characterise RNAa molecules targeting rare genetic diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Nippon Shinyaku will also have the option to exercise an exclusive license to further research, develop and commercialize pharmaceutical candidates based on early-stage preclinical outcomes.
“We are proud and excited to announce this collaboration with Nippon Shinyaku, who have prioritised rare genetic diseases as part of their impressive research and development capabilities,” said Robert Habib, Chief Executive Officer at MiNA. “Our RNAa therapeutic platform has delivered unique and differentiated clinical benefits in previous studies, demonstrating its potential to have significant benefits over other genetic medicine approaches.”
Nippon Shinyaku will pay MiNA an upfront payment and development milestone associated with delivering characterized RNAa molecules and, subject to exercising an exclusive option fee for further development and commercialization, milestones payments and royalties commensurate with progress and sales of the product(s) after launch. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
MiNA’s RNAa platform has been clinically validated in more than 120 patients to date. The universally designed platform has the potential to address any gene given its endogenous mechanism of action that ultimately addresses the root cause of the defective gene and enables the body to self-correct. Furthermore, working at the gene level, RNAa medicines have the ability to restore a cell’s own biology. This holds potential to treat currently “undruggable” diseases.
