Glaxo and Regulus Ink Deal on Small, Small RNA

Interesting article and partnership...big pharma investing in biotech for better selection of candidates for clinical trials with inflammatory disease...BD

GlaxoSmithKline has inked a deal with a company called Regulus, a joint venture of Alnylam and Isis that’s doing research in a budding field around something called microRNA. The crux of it, discussed in more detail in this post, is that microRNAs are itty bitty strands of RNA that are involved in protein production within cells. As Regulus CEO Kleanthis Xanthopoulos explains it, they “control the stability of the messenger RNA and its ability to be translated into proteins.”

So, to the Glaxo deal: It means the companies are going to work together to sift through 500 or so microRNAs and narrow down the list to the top four they want to use to create candidates for clinical tests in inflammatory disease, Xanthopoulos says. Regulus already has a relatively short list in mind.