Marina Biotech, formerly MDRNA, said this week that it has acquired certain drug-delivery intellectual property from Novosom for roughly $5 million in stock.
Specifically, Marina has picked up the rights to Novosom's Smarticle technology, a liposome-based delivery vehicle applicable for both systemic and local siRNA administration, the company said. It is covered by 42 issued or allowed patents and 31 pending patent applications worldwide.
Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"We believe that this technology and intellectual property estate, resulting from years of hard work and diligent IP prosecution on the part of Novosom, is a significant addition to our existing RNA delivery platforms and … IP estate," Marina President and CEO Michael French said in a statement.