MiRagen Therapeutics, a Boulder, CO-based drug discovery company focused on developing microRNA-targeting therapies for cardiovascular and muscle diseases, has extended its collaboration with French pharmaceutical company Servier through October 2016, the company announced Wednesday. The biotech also has raised $7 million, according to an SEC filing submitted Wednesday.
Servier and MiRagen are collaborating on pre-clinical research to develop drugs to treat cardiovascular disease. If a drug is developed and brought to market, MiRagen will have commercialization rights in the U.S. and Japan, with Servier having the rights for the rest of the world.
The partnership pertains to three drug candidates that are in preclinical development. Servier will continue to fund preclinical research and development of the drugs through Phase II clinical trials, the media release said.
The partnership was formed in 2011 and was big news for MiRagen. It was announced then that MiRagen initially would receive up to $45 million in total upfront, research support, and near-term milestone payments over three years. Beyond that, MiRagen could receive up to $352 million if regulatory and commercial milestones were reached, and the biotech said at the time the total value of the deal could approach $1 billion if the drugs made it to the market.
The $7 million in new funds comes as part of a Series B round that opened in April 2012. The company wants to raise $20 million in the round, and now has raised $13 million of it. A press release issued at the time of the Series B round from MiRagen noted that Dallas-based Remeditex Ventures led the round and that investors had agreed to commit the full $20 million over time.
MiRagen has raised a total of $25 million through selling equity and an additional $6 million by selling convertible notes that later converted into shares of the company.
MiRagen’s investors include Boulder-based Boulder Ventures, Atlas Venture of Cambridge, MA, and Amgen Ventures, which is Amgen’s (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]) VC fund. MiRagen was founded in 2007.
