MDRNA Gains Full Rights to Drug Technology

MDRNA, the Bothell, WA-based developer of RNA interference drug technology, said today it has renegotiated a key technology license so that it has full control and no longer needs to make future payments for it. MDRNA (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MRNA]]) bought the rights in October to unlocked nucleobase analog technology from Denmark-based RiboTask, which has been studying its ability to make RNA interference drugs more stable, and less likely to spark inflammation. Terms of the deal with RiboTask weren’t disclosed, although MDRNA raised $10.5 million from investors this month.

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.