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news.Silence Therapeutics plc and Quark Pharmaceuticals have expanded their current strategic technology licensing agreement. Financial details were not disclosed.
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In April 2005, the companies signed an agreement which provided Quark with access to Silence Therapeutics’ novel proprietary siRNA technology, AtuRNAi. The agreement led to a compound, RTP801i, which was licensed to Pfizer in 2006 by Quark and is currently in a Phase I trial in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration. Quark’s product portfolio includes one additional siRNA molecule with a structure covered by patents licensed from Silence Therapeutics.
The expanded agreement provides Quark with options to non-exclusive licenses to develop additional molecules against three specific targets using Silence Therapeutics’ proprietary AtuRNAi technology. The additional terms of the amendment signed will entitle Silence Therapeutics to milestone payments and a royalty on product sales after exercise of the options by Quark.
Danny Zurr, CEO of Quark Pharmaceuticals, said: “We are pleased to extend our relationship with Silence Therapeutics. We believe extending this relationship provides Quark with opportunities to further develop its pipeline of clinical product candidates targeted at indications with significant unmet medical needs.”