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MDRNA Receives Additional Funding from National Institutes of Health

BOTHELL, Wash.-(Business Wire)-September 4, 2008 - MDRNA, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA) announced today that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the Company over $350,000 for further development of the Company’s siRNA therapeutics program to prevent and treat influenza. These funds are part of a five-year grant totaling $1.9 million that the NIH awarded the Company in September 2006 to study the underlying scientific principles that enable RNAi to inhibit influenza.

“MDRNA has made great progress in understanding siRNA activity against drug-resistant viruses and how the influenza virus becomes resistant to an RNAi-based therapeutic,” said Michael V. Templin, Ph.D., Vice President for Toxicology and Pharmacology. “The additional funding provided by the NIH will help to further increase our understanding of the mechanisms of viral resistance against RNAi-based therapeutics as a drug class. We will also use these funds to confirm that MDR-03030, our lead Dicer substrate siRNA candidate against human and avian influenza strains, is optimally designed to target the conserved region of the influenza viral genome and thus minimizes the virus’s ability to mutate around the compound.”

MDRNA is pairing highly potent and broadly-active Dicer substrate siRNAs against influenza with its DiLA² Platform, a dynamic, lipid-based delivery platform that creates novel lipids from amino acids. The dynamic nature of the DiLA² Platform makes it possible for the properties of the liposome to be optimized for delivery to the target tissue of interest and is amenable to attachment of targeting moieties for improved delivery specificity. In preclinical models of influenza, MDRNA has reported efficient intranasal delivery of highly potent Dicer substrate siRNAs with DiLA²-based formulations, which resulted in a 100 to 1000-fold (99%) reduction in viral titers, decreased clinical signs, and increased survival.

About Influenza

Influenza infects millions of people worldwide and results in hundreds of thousands of deaths every year. The World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are concerned about the potential for a major global pandemic, such as the 1918 “Spanish Flu” in which up to 50 million people may have died worldwide. A global pandemic flu emerges from a sudden change in the influenza viral genome resulting in a new viral strain for which there may be no pre-existing immunity or vaccine. Vaccines currently represent the mainstay of flu prevention, but vaccines have two key limitations. First, they are developed against individual, known circulating strains of influenza and therefore may not be effective against new viral strains. Second, vaccines are produced using a lengthy process requiring incubation in chicken eggs. Hence, a vaccine against a new viral strain would not be readily available. Influenza, like many viruses, has the potential to mutate and become resistant to the very drugs developed to treat influenza. The potential advantage of RNAi therapeutics over traditional antiviral drugs is that siRNAs can be developed to target the conserved region of the influenza viral genome. This means that an RNAi therapeutic would be expected to be effective against all emerging strains of the influenza virus since the “conserved region” very rarely mutates. Therefore, it would be possible to stockpile an effective RNAi-based therapeutic in advance of a global influenza pandemic. In addition to their potential for treating a pandemic influenza outbreak, RNAi therapeutics could also serve as a treatment for the more common strains responsible for seasonal flu that can result in hospitalization and death each year.

About MDRNA, Inc.

MDRNA is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutic products based on RNA interference (RNAi). Our goal is to improve human health through the development of RNAi-based compounds and drug delivery technologies that together provide superior therapeutic options for patients. Over the past decade, we have developed substantial capabilities in molecular biology, cellular biology, lipid chemistry, peptide chemistry, pharmacology and bioinformatics, which we are applying to a wide range of RNAi technologies and delivery approaches. These capabilities plus the in-licensing of key RNAi-related intellectual property have rapidly enabled us to become a leading RNAi-based therapeutics company with a pre-clinical pipeline in key therapeutic areas including oncology, metabolic disorders and inflammation. Through our capabilities, expertise and know-how, we are incorporating multiple RNAi technologies as well as peptide- and lipid-based delivery approaches into a single integrated drug discovery platform that will be the engine for our clinical pipeline as well as a versatile platform for establishing broad therapeutic partnerships with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. We are also investing in new technologies that we expect to lead to safer and more effective RNAi-based therapeutics while aggressively building upon our broad and extensive intellectual property estate. By combining broad expertise in siRNA science with proven delivery platforms and a strong IP position, MDRNA is well positioned as a leading RNAi-based drug discovery and development company. Additional information about MDRNA, Inc. is available at http://www.mdrnainc.com.

MDRNA Forward-Looking Statement

Statements made in this news release may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Federal Securities laws that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and involve factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (i) the ability of MDRNA or a subsidiary to obtain additional funding; (ii) the ability of MDRNA or a subsidiary to attract and/or maintain manufacturing, research, development and commercialization partners; (iii) the ability of MDRNA, a subsidiary and/or a partner to successfully complete product research and development, including preclinical and clinical studies and commercialization; (iv) the ability of MDRNA, a subsidiary and/or a partner to obtain required governmental approvals; and (v) the ability of MDRNA, a subsidiary and/or a partner to develop and commercialize products that can compete favorably with those of competitors. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested in any forward-looking statements are contained in MDRNA's most recent periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. MDRNA assumes no obligation to update and supplement forward-looking statements because of subsequent events.

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