Marina Biotech said this week that it has signed an agreement to sell its patents and technology related to carbetocin, a long-acting analog of the hormone oxytocin, to Cypress Bioscience for an initial fee of $750,000 and potential milestones of up to $27 million.
According to Marina, the drug may potentially be used as an autism treatment. Nastech Pharmaceutical, the predecessor company of Marina, had advanced the compound through two phase I dose-escalation studies.
"While we remain focused on building value around our RNAi drug discovery platforms, the sale of our carbetocin assets to Cypress is another example of our efforts to monetize the legacy assets of our predecessor company," Marina President and CEO Michael French said in a statement. "We hope to use the potential downstream financial opportunity to further fund our RNAi-based drug discovery and development efforts."