Sanofi in-licenses ARC candidate from miRecule

French pharma major Sanofi (Euronext: SAN) has entered into a collaboration and licensing agreement with little known US biotech miRecule, an innovator of next-generation RNA therapeutics.

Under the terms off the deal Sanofi will develop and commercialize a best-in-class antibody-RNA conjugate (ARC) for the treatment of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). The collaboration marks miRecule’s first licensing transaction leveraging its proprietary DREAmiR platform.

FSHD is the second most common type of muscular dystrophy – affecting more than one million individuals worldwide with no approved treatments. Patients with causative genetic mutations experience lifelong deterioration of muscle function and progressive disability. The collaboration will combine miRecule’s anti-DUX4 RNA therapy (discovered through its proprietary DREAmiR platform) with Sanofi’s proprietary muscle-targeted NANOBODY technology to join the two molecules into an ARC utilizing miRecule’s NAVIgGator conjugation and formulation chemistry. The potential resulting best- in-class therapy may become a disease-modifying treatment that selectively targets and suppresses the underlying cause of FSHD in muscle tissue. This ground-breaking approach would enable FSHD patients to resume their normal course of aging free from the debilitating effects of this progressive disease.