Join­ing No­var­tis in siR­NA space, As­traZeneca hands Si­lence $80M up­front for dis­cov­ery deal

Mene Pan­ga­los is dou­bling down on RNA-based tech­nolo­gies for his side of the As­traZeneca R&D ma­chine.

Just two months af­ter bring­ing a small ac­ti­vat­ing RNA (saR­NA) pro­gram in­to its fold, Pan­ga­los now has his eyes on Si­lence Ther­a­peu­tics’ small in­ter­fer­ing RNA (siR­NA) plat­form. Call­ing it an “ex­cit­ing new modal­i­ty” for the phar­ma gi­ant’s drug dis­cov­ery tool­box, As­traZeneca has shelled out $60 mil­lion in cash and pur­chased $20 mil­lion worth of Si­lence’s stock on the Lon­don ex­change.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER