Silence Therapeutics and Quark Pharmaceuticals expand agreement

UK company Silence Therapeutics US-based Quark Pharmaceuticals, are expanding their current strategic technology licensing agreement.

In April 2005 the companies signed an option and licence agreement that provided Quark with access to Silence Therapeutics" novel proprietary siRNA technology, AtuRNAi.

The first outcome of the companies" relationship was the development of the AtuRNAi technology-based compound RTP801i, which was licensed to Pfizer in 2006 by Quark and is currently in a phase 1 clinical trial in patients with wet age related macular degeneration. Quark's product portfolio includes one additional siRNA molecule with a structure covered by patents licensed from Silence Therapeutics.

The expanded agreement provides Quark with options to non-exclusive licences to develop additional molecules against three specific targets using Silence Therapeutics" proprietary AtuRNAi technology. The terms of the amendment will entitle Silence Therapeutics to milestone payments and a royalty on product sales after exercise of the options by Quark.

"The goal in the RNAi sector is to advance clinical development and Quark has already proven it can utilise our proprietary AtuRNAi technology and take products into the clinic," said Iain Ross, chairman of Silence Therapeutics. "This agreement forms part of our continuing strategy of signing target-specific collaboration and license agreements with pharmaceutical and biotech companies that will lead to a broader clinical application of our AtuRNAi product platform for systemic applications in oncology."

In July 2007, Silence Therapeutics formed a research and development collaboration with Astra Zeneca to develop AtuRNAi against five targets in respiratory indications. In addition, Silence Therapeutics expects to begin the clinical development of its proprietary AtuRNAi therapeutic molecules for systemic cancer indications, such as gastrointestinal and non-small lung cancer, in 2008.