Moderna spins-out Onkaido Therapeutics to focus on mRNA therapeutics in oncology

15 January 2014

Flush with cash as a result of its mega-million dollar deal with Alexion on the development of drugs for rare diseases and a previous accord with AstraZeneca (The Pharma Letter January 15), privately-held US start up Moderna Therapeutics has announced the creation of Onkaido Therapeutics, a new venture focused exclusively on developing mRNA-based oncology treatments.

Onkaido Therapeutics will launch with $20 million in committed capital from Moderna. The new company will focus initially on 15 preclinical drug candidates in the areas of apoptosis, central regulatory nodes and immunotherapy. Several of these candidates are already under evaluation in in vivo disease models. By establishing Onkaido as a standalone unit, Moderna intends to accelerate the development of mRNA Therapeutics for oncology and deliver the potential of these new cancer treatments to patients.

Management line up

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