New Partnership to Focus on Novel Approaches for the Delivery of siRNA Molecules

A partnership has been formed to develop new and improved approaches for the delivery of siRNA molecules.

Small interfering RNA (siRNA), sometimes known as short interfering RNA or silencing RNA, are a class of 20-25 nucleotide-long double-stranded RNA molecules that play a variety of roles in biology. Most notably, siRNA is involved in the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway where the siRNA interferes with the expression of a specific gene. Each strand of the siRNA molecule has a 5' phosphate group and a 3' hydroxyl (-OH) group. This structure is the result of processing by dicer, an enzyme that converts either long dsRNAs or small hairpin RNAs into siRNAs.

siRNAs can be artificially introduced into cells by various transfection methods to bring about the specific knockdown of a gene of interest. Essentially any gene of which the sequence is known can thus be targeted based on sequence complementarity with an appropriately tailored siRNA. This has made siRNAs important tools for gene function and drug target validation studies.

The two partners, Silence Therapeutics (London, UK) and AstraZeneca (London, UK) are already involved in a three-year collaboration signed in July 2007, whose aim is to develop novel siRNA therapeutics against specific targets exclusive to AstraZeneca. Under the new agreement, the partners will work together to develop new and improved approaches for the delivery of siRNA molecules. Both companies will be allowed to commercialize the truly novel delivery systems that they develop together.

Jeff Vick, CEO of Silence Therapeutics, said, "We are delighted to enter this new collaboration with AstraZeneca for the development of novel approaches for the delivery of siRNA molecules. This agreement highlights the significant progress we have made with our AtuPLEX platform, following our early realization of the importance of delivery to the development of successful RNAi therapeutics. This deal also reflects the strong working relationship we have developed with AstraZeneca and the progress of our ongoing collaboration in the development of AtuRNAi molecules against a number of their targets.”

Claude Bertrand, a vice-president at AstraZeneca said, "We are very happy with the working relationship we have developed with the team at Silence Therapeutics and the progress made over the last six months via our agreement to develop siRNA therapeutics against a number of our targets. Today's announcement is designed to generate the novel delivery approaches that are needed if this exciting class of novel drugs is to realize fully its potential. Based on Silence Therapeutics' significant current expertise in siRNA delivery we are confident that we have found a strong partner to achieve our ambitions in this area.”


Related Links:
Silence Therapeutics
AstraZeneca