AstraZeneca and Isis Pharmaceuticals announce new collaboration

AstraZeneca has announced a new collaboration with Isis Pharmaceuticals to create a new range of antisense therapies.

Building on a broad existing relationship between the two companies, the new project will focus on the discovery and development of therapies for cardiovascular, metabolic and renal diseases. 

This supports AstraZeneca's strategic approach in these therapeutic areas using novel RNA-targeted treatments, while also enabling Isis Pharmaceuticals to extend use of its antisense technology to diseases of the kidney.

AstraZeneca will pay an upfront fee of $65 million (41.74 million pounds) to Isis Pharmaceuticals plus development and regulatory milestones and royalties for each programme that AstraZeneca advances to clinical development.

Mene Pangalos, executive vice-president for innovative medicines and early development at AstraZeneca, said: "This collaboration combines the world-class antisense drug research capabilities of Isis with our expertise in cardiovascular, metabolic and renal disease drug discovery and development."

The companies agreed to collaborate on the development of new RNA therapeutics for the treatment of cancer in December 2012.