Eli Lilly and Company and MiNA Therapeutics have created a global research collaboration to develop novel drug candidates using MiNA’s proprietary small activating RNA (saRNA) technology platform.
MiNA will utilise its saRNA platform to research up to five targets selected by Lilly that aim to address diseases across Lilly’s key therapeutic focus areas. Lilly will be responsible for preclinical and clinical development of candidates and will retain exclusive commercialisation rights for any products resulting from the collaboration.
“Small activating RNAs are a promising new technology, which will expand the breadth of Lilly’s RNA therapeutics platform and the targets we can pursue,” said Andrew Adams, Vice President for new therapeutic modalities at Lilly. “We are excited about the potential of combining MiNA’s leading saRNA platform and our expertise in new modalities to accelerate development of RNA-based medicines in areas of high unmet medical need.”
“This collaboration with Lilly is an important validation of our saRNA platform,” said Robert Habib, CEO of MiNA Therapeutics. “Lilly’s expertise in the field of RNA therapeutics and clinical development will greatly enhance our efforts to realise the technology’s full potential. Together, we aim to unlock new targets in multiple therapeutic areas and to ultimately move them towards clinical development and commercialisation.”
