BRIEF—New partnership in antisense oligonucleotide development

Antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) firm Secarna Pharmaceuticals has partnered with Chinese firm SciNeuro Pharmaceuticals to take aim at central nervous system (CNS) disorders.

Secarna is hoping to develop therapies to treat challenging or previously-thought undruggable targets.

The multi-target research and option agreement, financial terms for which were not disclosed, will see the firm using its discovery and development platform, LNAplus, to develop ASO candidates for SciNeuro.

The latter will then choose whether to exercise an option for worldwide exclusive rights on development and subsequent commercialization.