Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, the Vancouver, BC developer of RNA interference drug delivery technology, said it it will receive $18.4 million in upfront cash under a partnership with Swiss healthcare giant Roche. Tekmira’s lipid-nanoparticle technology to keep RNAi drugs stable in the blood, which is also licensed to Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, will be used on Roche’s first two products of this class. Tekmira is also eligible to get $32 million in milestone payments from Roche if the products achieve development goals.
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
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