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Eli Lilly is making a small equity financial investment in a startup that recently ended up being a research study partner, deepening its connection to a business that might provide the pharmaceutical giant a place in the growing field of RNA treatments.
The $15 million investment announced Tuesday comes 2 months after Lilly accepted begin a partnership with London-based MiNA Therapeutics, which is developing small triggering RNA therapies (saRNA). SaRNA drugs are a brand-new class of medicines that work by a system called RNA activation, which the London-based biotech likens to hitting the “on” switch for the production of a particular protein. The concept is to increase or bring back cellular levels of a target protein.
With the new money from Lilly, MiNA stated it will advance and expand its internal pipeline of saRNA therapies, which is at first focused on hereditary and immune-oncology illness. MiNA received $25 million up front and could make $245 million for each disease target, plus royalties from sales of any commercialized drugs from the collaboration.
Lead MiNA drug candidate, MTL-CEBPA, is developed to encode a protein that acts as a master regulator of myeloid cells and other cell types. In strong growths, myeloid cells are frequently dysregulated. By bring back CEBPA expression, MiNA stated it intends to modify immune cell populations in the tumor microenvironment, potentially improving the efficacy of other cancer therapies.
A Phase 1/2 study is currently in progress assessing the MiNA drug in liver cancer. That Phase 1/2 medical trial is examining the MiNA drug in combination with Merck cancer immunotherapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda).
Lilly isnt MiNAs only research partner. MiNA stands to earn EUR220 million, an amount that includes the in advance payment as well as development and industrial turning points for the first disease target, which was not specified.
MiNA emerged last September, unveiling a ₤ 23 million (about $30 million) Series A round of financing. The biotech stated at the time that the capital would support its clinical development strategies. In Tuesdays announcement, MiNA CEO stated Lillys brings even more recognition.
” This investment from Lilly, together with our just recently revealed multi-target research study collaboration, represents a crucial endorsement of our saRNA platform,” he said.
Photo by Flickr user Paul Sableman through a Creative Commons license.

MiNA got $25 million up front and could earn $245 million for each illness target, plus royalties from sales of any commercialized drugs from the partnership.
Lead MiNA drug candidate, MTL-CEBPA, is created to encode a protein that acts as a master regulator of myeloid cells and other cell types. A Phase 1/2 research study is currently underway examining the MiNA drug in liver cancer. That Phase 1/2 scientific trial is evaluating the MiNA drug in mix with Merck cancer immunotherapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda).