Milestone agreement to commercialise Australian biotech innovation

A strategic agreement that will accelerate Australia's lead in the global commercialisation of DNA Directed RNA interference (ddRNAi) has been reached by Benitec, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (Queensland DPI).

This agreement fully resolves the dispute between Benitec, CSIRO and Queensland DPI, with all parties retaining research rights in their fields of interest.

Invented in Australia, ddRNAi is the most advanced technology for inducing RNA interference (RNAi). This breakthrough gene silencing technology is able to be utilised in most bioresearch institutes, biotech and pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Applications may include the treatment of human disease such as cancer, autoimmune disorders and viral infections by shutting down or suppressing genes that cause these diseases.

Benitec will focus on commercialising ddRNAi for 'human applications', including research models used in functional genomics. CSIRO will focus on commercialising 'non-human applications', including plants, animals and insects. Queensland DPI will continue its ddRNAi research and will benefit from access to both Benitec and CSIRO's global commercialisation pathways.

Benitec and CSIRO will share revenues generated from the commercial applications of ddRNAi, each party retaining the majority of revenue generated from its respective area. This agreement will unlock the enormous value of the ddRNAi intellectual property by accelerating the parallel development of commercial applications in both the human and non-human fields.

'This deal provides clear and certain commerciali-sation pathways for this technology,' said John McKinley, chairman and ceo of Benitec.