Search 

Depomed, Inc. (Nasdaq:  DEPO) is a US based specialty pharmaceutical company with a focus in pain, CNS, and Women's Health.  The company has advanced three products to market and has developed a pipeline with late-stage product opportunities intended to address common medical conditions affecting large patient populations

Depomed is currently seeking US co-promotion, and Global license partners for it's marketed product Gralise (once-daily gabapentin for Post Herpetic Neuralgia), and Serada a non-hormonal treatment for Vasomotor Symptoms (menopausal hot flashes) which is currently under in registration.

Dicerna Technology: Next Generation RNAi and RNAi Delivery

Dicerna is a leading developer of RNAi drugs targeting unmet needs in cancer. The company’s novel Dicer Substrate siRNA (DsiRNA) molecules and proprietary drug delivery technologies have the demonstrated ability to silence previously undruggable disease targets. Dicerna’s RNAi platform is comprised of two key components: Dicer Substrates (DsiRNAs), which are 25-30 asymmetric double stranded RNAs that mediate RNAi with extremely high potency, and EnCore lipid nanoparticles, which are optimized for tumor delivery of RNAi molecules. The DsiRNA platform is broadly covered by the recently issued US patent 8,084,599.

Dicerna DsiRNA and Delivery Technologies enable breakthrough cancer treatments based on previously undruggable targets

Robust in vivo anti-tumor efficacy has been achieved in multiple difficult-to-treat tumors using DsiRNA Technology against classic undruggable oncology targets, both within our own pipeline and with our partner Kyowa Kirin. The company’s most advanced program targets the MYC oncogene and is focused on Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC), where there still remains a significant need for new treatment options. The HCC program is available for partnering.

Recent accomplishments

·         The demonstration of profound tumor responses in multiple solid tumor xenograft models.

·         The recent announcements that our partner, Kyowa Kirin, has moved the initial oncology candidate into formal development, triggering a substantial success milestone and the achievement of the in vivo efficacy milestone for the second DsiRNA oncology candidate.

·         The characterization and optimization of our EnCore lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology and its ability to deliver DsiRNA payloads into the cell cytoplasm and achieve efficient knockdown of targeted genes.

·         The issuance of the fundamental patent covering the DsiRNA platform.

At Dicerna we can rapidly generate DsiRNA inhibitors against any gene and optimize our EnCore delivery technology to deliver to specific tumor types or organs.  We have demonstrated these capabilities in our lead HCC program, available for partnering, and can use these capabilities to develop therapeutics against targets of interest to collaborators.  I hope you have the time to meet with Dicerna during BioNetwork West to discuss our technology and areas of possible mutual interest.

Based in Toronto, Canada, DRI Capital Inc. is a life sciences industry-focused investment management firm with over US$2 billion under management that purchases drug royalties from universities, inventors, research institutes and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.  DRI Capital closed Drug Royalty II in April, 2010 with US$701 million in equity capital commitments, and a Co-Investment Fund in December, 2010 with an additional US$225 million in equity capital commitments.  Investors in Drug Royalty II and the Co-Investment Fund include corporate entities, public pension plans, 501(c)(3) entities, family offices and a sovereign wealth fund. Royalties recently acquired by DRI’s funds include those on Johnson and Johnson’s Remicade, Amgen and Pfizer’s Enbrel, Kyowa Kirin’s Regpara, and Biogen Idec and Elan’s Tysabri.