Silence Therapeutics, an RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics company, has signed an agreement with MiReven, an Australian-based microRNA company, to assess the delivery potential of Silence's proprietary delivery systems with MiReven's novel microRNA-based therapeutics.

MiReven commerciales discoveries from the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR) on the anti-cancer potential of miR-7. Through the agreement, Silence will formulate a miR-7 mimetic (a potentially therapeutic mimic of the miR-7 molecule) with its proprietary AtuPLEX, DACC and DBTC delivery systems in order to evaluate miR-7 in various cancer models. Silence will undertake in vitro and in vivo studies of the formulated miR-7.

"This is the fourth collaboration that we have recently signed to explore the use of Silence's delivery technologies for microRNAs,” said Klaus Giese, CSO of Silence Therapeutics. “Functional delivery to target cells is widely recognized as one of the greatest challenges facing most nucleic acid therapies. Our three proprietary RNAi delivery systems, AtuPLEX, DACC and DBTC, deliver effective doses of RNAi to key intracellular targets in vascular endothelium, lung and liver respectively, and provide our partners with a growing range of solutions to overcome their delivery challenges."

Silence is being paid an undisclosed fee for the collaboration.