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Tekmira Completes Merger with OnCore

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NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) –Tekmira Pharmaceuticals announced yesterday that it has completed its merger with privately held hepatitis B drug developer OnCore Biopharma, a deal that was overwhelming approved by the RNAi therapeutics firm's shareholders.

In January, Tekmira first disclosed that it had agreed to merge with OnCore to create a company focused on developing an oral cure for HBV. Tekmira currently has an siRNA-based HBV drug in Phase I testing.

At the time, Tekmira and OnCore said that they would continue to advance Tekmira's other, non-HBV RNAi programs, although the details of how that will happen have yet to be worked out.

"This exciting merger transforms Tekmira from a technology-based development company into a therapeutic solutions company," Tekmira CEO Mark Murray said in a statement.

The merged company, which will retain the Tekmira name, "combines multiple technologies and assets under one roof, enabling us to efficiently and rapidly evaluate a combination of therapeutic agents targeting multiple aspects of viral persistence," he added. "Our strategy is to maximize product opportunities, while reducing the risk associated with any single asset, which we believe provides a pathway to sustained value creation."