(Alliance News) - Silence Therapeutics PLC on Wednesday said it is collaborating with FTSE 100-listed drug maker AstraZeneca PLC on treatments for renal, cardiovascular, respiratory, and metabolic diseases.
Shares in Silence jumped 22% to 495.15 pence in London in morning trading, peaking at 646.50p. Shares in Astra were up 0.3% at 6,979.00p.
Astra will pay Silence USD80 million upfront - USD60 million in cash plus a USD20 million equity investment - under the deal. The collaboration is aimed as discovering, developing and commercialising small interfering RNA therapeutics to treat diseases.
The Astra collaboration will also make Silence eligible for up to USD400 million in milestone payments for each disease target, as well as tiered royalties. Silence will have the option to negotiate to co-develop two programs discovered through the Astra collaboration, starting from phase 2.
Silence's therapies are intended to inhibit genes and silence production of disease-causing proteins. The collaboration aims to deliver Silence's small interfering RNA molecules to the heart, liver, lung and other tissues.
Silence will take on responsibility for designing small interfering RNA molecules against targets chosen by Astra and for manufacturing material to support toxicology and phase 1 clinical studies.
Astra will pay a USD10 million option fee for each selected target once nominated, with Silence eligible for as much as USD140 million in development milestones and up to USD250 million in commercialisation milestones. Silence will also receive "tiered royalties on net sales ranging from high single digit to low double digit".
Silence Executive Chair Iain Ross said: "We are delighted to announce this collaboration with AstraZeneca as it is a further validation of our proprietary [small interfering RNA platform]. It not only provides us with an opportunity to collaborate on specific liver expressed gene targets but also to work with a leading company to achieve targeted delivery of siRNA molecules to other tissues including heart, kidney and lung."
Silence separately announced it a re-prioritised and accelerated its research and development pipeline in response to the USD60 million Astra investment. This will involve accelerating its SLN360 asset as a potential cardiovascular disease treatment.
SLN360 has been made Silence's highest priority development programme, and it plans to submit an investigational new drug application to the US Food & Drug Administration later in 2020, with a first in-man study to produce interim data by mid-2021.
Silence has paused recruitment for its study of SLN124 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and is now aiming for interim data in the first half of 2021. SLN124 has been granted a rare paediatric disease designation in the US to treat blood disorder Beta Thalassemia.
"We remain cognisant of the potential impact of coronavirus on our operations and have taken the steps necessary to maintain the integrity of the company's assets and the health and wellbeing of our employees," said Silence.
Ross said: "The potential of our highly innovative proprietary RNAi pipeline assets to treat diseases with poor treatment options has been further highlighted by the recent investment from AstraZeneca. We are now well capitalised to further accelerate our pipeline towards clinical development with a focus on assets which we believe will transform the lives of patients."
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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