Roche acquires gene therapy specialists Mirus
pharmafile | July 24, 2008 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â Â
Roche has bought Mirus Bio for $125 million, a move which it believes will put it at the forefront of gene therapy.
US biotech Mirus specialises in Ribonucleic Acid interference (RNAi) a natural process which the body uses to effectively switch off the activity of certain genes.
By designing new drug therapies to switch off certain genes, a variety of diseases in which unwanted genetic activity is involved – including cancer, respiratory or metabolic disorders – a breakthrough in treatment could be achieved.
Getting RNAi molecules into the target cell has been one of the major obstacles in the field, and through its work on innovative nucleic acid based technologies, Mirus has developed a proprietary delivery platform, called Dynamic PolyConjugates, which Roche believes could be the way of getting RNAi therapeutics to specific targets.
It is not Roche's first toe into the water of RNAi technology: last year it announced an alliance with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, which included buying the US company's European RNAi therapeutic research site in Kulmbach, Germany.
Lee Babiss, global head of Roche pharma research, said that his new colleagues in Madison would bolster the company's RNAi work.
"The pioneering work in RNAi delivery by the scientists at Mirus, together with our Centre of Excellence for RNAi research in Kulmbach, puts Roche at the forefront of bringing this whole new class of treatment to patients who suffer from difficult to treat diseases," he said.
"The expertise, resources and commitment that Roche brings to the RNAi field make Roche an ideal partner for Mirus," said Mirus president Russell R. Smestad. "Together we will be able to greatly accelerate the progress we would have accomplished independently."
Roche's rivals such as AstraZeneca and Merck have all invested in RNAi delivery technology: Merck bought RNAi specialist Sirna Therapeutics in 2006 while AZ has hooked up with UK firm Silence Therapeutics.
Mirus' work in gene therapy has seen it develop novel human therapeutics enabled by its proprietary Pathway IV hydrodynamic delivery platform. The company is currently working on a treatment for muscular dystrophy with French company Transgene.
Mirus also markets labelling products to researchers for DNA and small interfering RNA (siRNA) transfection – the method by which foreign DNA is introduced into a eukaryotic cell. Mirus' transfection reagents business will become a standalone company called Mirus Bio, with staff expected to transfer.
The deal will see Roche maintaining an RNAi research base at Mirus' headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.
