NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Nastech Pharmaceutical has licensed RNAi intellectual property and technology from the City of Hope, the company said today.
Nastech licensed City of Hope’s Dicer-Substrate RNA patents and technology in order to develop short-interfering RNA-based drugs for diseases related to protein over-production.
Under the terms of the deal, Nastech gained exclusive rights to “five undisclosed targets” and non-exclusive rights to siRNAs that are subject to certain City of Hope limitations.
As an example of protein over-production issues, Nastech pointed to rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, which are associated with the TNF-alpha protein.
The company also said it will try to use the technology to develop therapeutics that inhibit proteins “critical for viral replication.”
Nastech CEO Steven Quay said the technology potentially offers “a better way of developing potent siRNA therapeutics” and, when joined with other Nastech properties, will allow the company to access “all fundamental IP surrounding RNAi required for us to drive our siRNA therapeutics programs forward.”
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.