Novartis chemistry, pharmaceuticals news
Novartis said it will "significantly reduce" its internal discovery efforts in RNA therapeutics due to "ongoing challenges with formulation and delivery and the reality that the current range of medically relevant targets where siRNA may be used is quite narrow." The pharma said it will maintain a small group in the field and will look for partnering opportunities, but said the decision will result in "some" job eliminations. Novartis has 26 full-time employees in its RNA therapeutics program.
Novartis said it will maintain some employees to work on disease targets the pharma obtained under a RNAi discovery deal with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY, Cambridge, Mass.). In 2010, Novartis finalized a selection of 31 targets for which it has exclusive rights to discover, develop and commercialize RNAi therapeutics (see BioCentury, Sept. 27, 2010). ...