Biotechnology company Thalia Therapeutics has acquired Sanmirna Therapeutics and its clinical-stage cancer RNA therapy. 

The acquisition catapults Thalia to a clinical-stage RNA therapeutics company, leveraging Sanmirna’s anti-microRNA-126 for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia. 

The deal is believed to be worth £16.675 million ($21.984 million), encompassing an initial consideration of £3.675 million ($4.845 million) and £13 million ($17 million) in deferred milestone payments. 

In conjunction with the acquisition, Thalia has also conditionally raised £2.75 million ($3.63 million) through the placing and subscription of more than 450 million shares. 

“This is an exciting and transformative opportunity to accelerate our clinical-stage oncology pipeline and diversify our RNA therapeutics pipeline, providing us with an asset that advances our development timeline by several years compared with our pre-clinical progress to date,” said Dr David Solomon, Chief Executive Officer of Thalia. 

“The Sanmirna acquisition is value accretive for Thalia shareholders, as it transforms Thalia into a clinical-stage company developing a promising novel therapeutic approach to treat AML, a disease with high unmet medical need.  

“miRistentargets microRNA-126, which has been shown to play a critical oncogenic role in AML, a life-threatening cancer where satisfactory treatments have not been developed.  

“We look forward to advancing this programme and unlocking its potential, enabling shareholders to participate in long-term value creation.  

“Together with Nuvec and our new cardiovascular product, we now have three material assets at differing stages of their clinical journey. Each has the potential, both individually and in combination, to address multi-billion-dollar market opportunities.”