MiRagen Therapeutics this week said it has achieved the first milestone in its partnership with Les Laboratoires Servier, with the French company selecting a third target for microRNA drug development.
The move triggered an undisclosed milestone payment to MiRagen.
In late 2011, the companies agreed to jointly develop two of MiRagen’s miRNA antagonists including one designed to silence miR-208 for chronic heart failure and one that targets miR-15/miR-195 to treat post-myocardial infarction remodeling (GSN 11/20/2011).
That deal, which is valued for MiRagen at $45 million over three years — and could be worth up to $1 billion if all clinical and commercial milestones are met — also gave Servier the option to a yet-to-be-named third drug candidate. Now Servier has selected the drug target for that third compound.
Additional details were not disclosed.