QBI, a wholly owned subsidiary of Quark Pharmaceuticals, will head an Israeli consortium of industry and academic collaborators focused on developing "novel genetic technologies in the field of RNAi," the company said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last month.
According to Quark, the Israeli government will financially support the consortium, which will specifically develop technologies related to RNAi chemistry, including chemical modifications, basic siRNA structure, and molecular manufacture; formulations, including delivery methods; and analytical approaches to facilitate the discovery, as well as the preclinical and clinical development, of RNAi agents.
Quark noted in the filing, which was submitted to the SEC as part of the company's plan to go public in the US (GSN 10/7/2010), that "the intellectual properties and technologies developed by QBI in the consortium shall remain with QBI at all times."
Additional details were not available.