Marina Gets RNAi Delivery Tools for $5M

Marina Biotech (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MRNAD]]), the Bothell, WA-based company formerly known as MDRNA, has acquired intellectual property rights to a variety of RNA interference drug delivery technologies from Germany-based Novosom. Marina agreed to provide $5 million worth of its common stock in exchange for rights to use Novosom’s liposomal-particle delivery system that’s supposed to get RNA-silencing drugs where they need to go inside cells. This is one of the biggest challenges in the field of RNA interference drug development, as I’ve described in past coverage of Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]) and its delivery partner, Vancouver, BC-based Tekmira Pharmaceuticals.

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.