Ionis Partnership
The Company acquired rights to its pipeline of antisense drugs from Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Ionis), the acknowledged world-leaders in antisense drug development and commercialisation.
The collaboration with Ionis provides the Company with access to Ionis’ antisense intellectual property, and development expertise to support development and commercialisation of the Company’s pipeline of antisense drugs.
As a leader in the field, the directors believe that Ionis is the ideal technology partner. Ionis is a leading drug discovery and development company, focused exclusively on the therapeutic target, RNA. Founded in 1989, Ionis’ mission is to develop products from its RNA-based technology antisense.
California-based Ionis is the leader in all aspects of antisense technology advancement, including mechanism research, the development of new chemistries, novel formulations and innovative drugs. The company currently has over 30 drugs in development to treat a wide variety of diseases with an emphasis on neurological, cardiometabolic, severe and rare diseases and cancer.
Ionis is the owner of one of the largest antisense and RNA patent estates in the pharmaceutical industry. The Company holds key patents covering antisense mechanisms, biology, chemistry, inhibitors of gene expression and manufacturing of antisense drugs.
Ionis has alliances with a number of global pharmaceutical companies, including Biogen, Novartis, Bayer, GSK, Astra Zeneca and Roche. Ionis’ partner Biogen is commercialising Ionis’ lead product SPINRAZA™ in the United States for the treatment of pediatric and adult patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
