Biogen and City Therapeutics have announced a partnership worth over $1bn to develop new RNAi therapies.
The collaboration will initially centre on a single target that “mediates key central nervous system diseases” and will use tissue enhanced delivery technologies to enable systemic administration of medicines, the partners said.
It will see City leverage its RNAi engineering technologies to develop an RNAi “trigger” molecule combined with Biogen’s drug delivery technology.
Biogen will be responsible for investigational new drug application-enabling studies and global clinical development, as well as any regulatory submissions and commercialisation activities.
In exchange, City will receive $46m from Biogen, comprising a $16m upfront payment and an investment of $30m in exchange for a City convertible note, representing a minority equity interest in the company if converted.
City will also be eligible for up to approximately $1bn in potential milestone payments plus tiered royalties, while Biogen will have the option to select another target, subject to an additional payment and target availability.
Jane Grogan, head of research at Biogen, said: “With this effort, we are further expanding the modalities in our research and development toolbox to potentially reach our targets of interest more precisely by adding an RNAi-based approach.
“We are excited to collaborate with City Therapeutics and [its] world-class scientists on key programmes, as well as to invest in [its] company as part of this innovative effort to develop new approaches to treating disease.”
RNAi-based medicines, which directly target and degrade messenger RNA to silence gene expression and block protein production, hold the potential to address a wide range of diseases.
City focuses on harnessing next-generation engineering of small interfering RNAs to improve and expand the reach of RNAi-based medicines.
Andy Orth, City’s chief executive officer, said: “Partnering with Biogen represents a meaningful milestone in our mission to expand the therapeutic reach of RNAi, as we pioneer the next generation of RNAi technology for breakthrough medicines.
“By combining our novel RNAi platform with Biogen’s industry-leading capabilities in global drug development, we aim to accelerate the advancement of therapies for serious diseases.”