AstraZeneca has selected the first product candidate under its siRNA (short interfering RNA) collaboration with Silence Therapeutics and will pay Silence a $10 million option fee to advance development on an undisclosed program. Silence Therapeutics is a biotechnology company working to silence diseases through precision engineered medicines.
 
Silence and AstraZeneca initiated a multi-target collaboration in March 2020 focused on using Silence’s mRNAi GOLD platform to develop siRNA therapeutics for cardiovascular, renal, metabolic and respiratory diseases. Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will pay Silence an option fee of $10 million for each selected target. The deal covers up to ten targets. For each target selected, Silence is eligible for up to $140 million in development milestones and up to $250 million in commercialization milestones as well as royalties on sales.
 
“We are very pleased to announce this important milestone in our collaboration with AstraZeneca,” said Craig Tooman, President and CEO of Silence. “We expect this positive momentum to continue as we advance the current program and initiate additional targets. We look forward to communicating more as we achieve additional milestones in the collaboration.”
 
Regina Fritsche Danielson, SVP, Early Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca said, “This is a very exciting first milestone in our long-term collaboration with Silence Therapeutics and we look forward to continued successes across our ongoing projects to address cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases.”