Healthcare Industry News: miRNAs
News Release - August 23, 2011
Mirna Therapeutics Announces Completion of Financing Round
AUSTIN, Texas--(Healthcare Sales & Marketing Network)-- Mirna Therapeutics, Inc. (“Mirna”) announced today that it has closed a $1.5 million equity financing round. The round adds to the significant funding the Company received through two substantial awards from Texas-based initiatives to further the State’s life sciences efforts and cancer research, respectively. In 2009, Mirna received a $5 million award from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, which was followed last year by a $10.3 million commercialization award from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).Several existing shareholders took part in the financing round, the proceeds of which will be used to further development of the Company’s proprietary microRNA (miRNA) therapeutics for the treatment of cancer.
“The proceeds of this financing combined with our significant state funding will continue to support our development efforts as we complete our preclinical work towards submitting an IND by the end of 2012,” stated Paul Lammers, M.D., Mirna’s President and Chief Executive Officer. He also noted, “We are very pleased by the continuous and generous support of our shareholders, and the current internal financing again underscores their confidence in our team and in the promise of miRNA-based therapeutics as the next class of targeted cancer therapeutics.”
About microRNAs
miRNAs are approximately 20-25 nucleotides long and affect gene expression by interacting with messenger RNAs. Unlike siRNAs, miRNAs are encoded in the human genome and are used as natural regulators of global gene expression. More than 900 miRNAs are encoded in the human genome and comprise approximately 2% of all mammalian genes. Since each miRNA appears to regulate the expression of tens to hundreds of different genes, miRNAs can function as “master-switches,” efficiently regulating and coordinating multiple cellular pathways and processes. By coordinating the expression of multiple genes, miRNAs are responsible for guiding proper embryonic development, immunity, inflammation, as well as cellular growth and proliferation. Misregulation of miRNAs appears to play a fundamental role in many cancers and replacement of down regulated miRNAs in tumor cells results in a positive therapeutic response.
About Mirna Therapeutics
Mirna Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of microRNA (miRNA) therapeutics. The Company has a substantial body of pending intellectual property around miRNAs developed by its own scientists as well as in-licensed from other institutions. Mirna’s IP portfolio contains >300 miRNAs with applications in oncology and other diseases. Oncology-directed miRNAs include those that are key tumor suppressors in cancer, such as miR-34 and let-7 that have proven to block tumor growth in a number of different pre-clinical animal studies. The Company, founded in 2007, is located in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit www.mirnarx.com.
Source: Mirna Therapeutics
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