Pharma's Market

PHARMA WATCH LIST

SPECIAL REPORT

Healthy Horizons
A brand new series of weekly segments which will explore the macro and micro issues facing the global economy.

LATEST FROM OUR BLOGS

» More

- Top 20 European Stocks for Crisis Time: Strategist

TOP HEADLINES

» Markets | Economy | Companies

- Why Are Greek and Italian Politicians Always So Bad?

PHARMA'S MARKET VIDEO

» More

Wall Street Protests 29 Apr 2010
Following a big demonstration in favor of financial regulation right outside the NYSE, with CNBC's Mike Huckman.
March on Wall Street 29 Apr 2010
Main Street takes to Wall Street today with thousands of union community activists marching to make the big banks pay, with CNBC's Mike Huckman.
Mike Huckman: Reporter's Reporter 29 Apr 2010
Original air date, June 26, 2002.
SBUX Beats the Street 21 Apr 2010
CNBC's Mike Huckman has Starbucks' earnings breakdown.

The Orange Squeeze on Dimon

16 Apr 2010

Some students at Syracuse University have a different idea rather than having JPMorgan's chairman/CEO Jamie Dimon deliver this year's commencement speech, reports CNBC's Mike Huckman.

Nasdaq Outperforms 14 Apr 2010
The Nasdaq easily outperforming the other major indexes today, with CNBC's Mike Huckman.

RSS FEED

» Help

Subscribe to this RSS feed
Stay up to date with Pharma's Market.

Isis, Alnylam (Shazam!) Create Regulus

Published: Friday, 7 Sep 2007 | 11:59 AM ET

Text Size

By: Mike Huckman
Reporter

Leo Regulus
Leo Regulus
Call it a stellar, mythic merger. This morning Isis [ISIS Loading... () ] Pharmaceuticals (named after the goddess in Egyptian mythology) and Alnylam [ALNY Loading... () ] Pharmaceuticals (named after the center star in Orion's belt) announced they're forming a joint venture called Regulus Therapeutics, LLC (named after the brightest star in the constellation Leo). I'm sensing a theme here.

The JV will focus on a new field of drug development known as microRNA. RNA stands for ribonucleic acid. It's a molecule that many scientists and experts believe could hold the key to someday curing a host of diseases and disorders. MicroRNA is, as the name suggests, a small form of it that company officials on a conference call this morning said regulates the expression of one-third of human genes.

Isis Founder, Chairman and CEO Dr. Stanley Crooke said within the next two to three years the JV could produce what he called "explosive developments". You may recall that last year Merck [MRK Loading... () ] paid more than a billion dollars to buy an RNAi (RNA interference) company called Sirna Therapeutics. The takeout price was double what the stock was trading at just before the deal was announced. Alnylam's stock has been a big beneficiary of that premium and other newsflow. CytRx [CYTR Loading... () ] , another RNAi company, not so much.

For now, Alnylam is putting up $10 million to fund the JV. CEO John Maraganore said it'll cost $15-$20 million to run it for the next couple of years but declined to give any details about who's gonna pay for what beyond the statement in the press release that says, "Isis and Alnylam will share funding of Regulus."

Both CEOs said their plan is for the JV to strike partnerships and alliances with bigger pharmaceutical and biotech companies that could provide cash infusions for all three entities. On low volume, investors in ALNY [ALNY Loading... () ] seem to like the idea. Isis [ISIS Loading... () ] folks are rather ho-hum about it. On the call, Maraganore said, "This is a clear case where one plus one equals five." That's if the stars align.