According to the companies, the research could extend drug discovery efforts into disease targets where traditional discovery technologies have not been successful.
During the collaboration, the companies will work to identify therapeutic siRNAs for multiple therapeutic areas, initially focusing on oncology.
Dharmacon’s proprietary technologies will be used in the collaboration to optimize siRNAs for therapeutic use, while Abbott will manage the drug discovery and development process and will be responsible for commercialization of products that result from the collaboration.
“By combining our drug discovery and development expertise with Dharmacon’s continuing advances in understanding the fundamentals of siRNA-based gene silencing, we will be able to explore targets that everyone knows exist, but have not been able to successfully create drugs to address,” said Dr Stephen Fesik, divisional vice president of cancer research at Abbott.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.