Tekmira Gets $5.8M from Hana

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, the Vancouver, BC-based company with technology to deliver RNA-based therapies in the body, said it has amended a licensing agreement with South San Francisco-based Hana Biosciences. Tekmira has agreed to accept a $5.75 million payment from Hana now, while agreeing to accept lower milestone payments from product candidates later. Tekmira has also agreed to send the $5.75 million to its debt holders to eliminate its debt.

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.