Silence Therapeutics to receive $10M from AstraZeneca following trial initiation

Silence Therapeutics (SLN) announced that the initiation by AstraZeneca (AZN) of a phase 1 clinical trial of the first product candidate under its siRNA collaboration, has triggered a $10M milestone payment to Silence. Silence and AstraZeneca initiated a multi-target collaboration in March 2020 focused on using Silence’s proprietary mRNAi Gold platform to develop siRNA therapeutics for cardiovascular, renal, metabolic and respiratory diseases. Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will pay Silence an option fee of $10M for each selected target at the point of candidate nomination. The deal covers up to ten targets. For each target selected, Silence is eligible for up to $140M in development milestones and up to $250M in commercialization milestones as well as tiered royalties on net sales ranging from high single digit to low double digit.