Dharmacon Inc announced an agreement with Exelixis Inc, a leading genomics-based drug discovery company, to develop a short interfering RNA (siRNA) library for approximately 600 proprietary and publicly available genes for kinases and other high priority drug discovery targets. The library is being developed using Dharmacon's proprietary SMARTselection and SMARTpool technology platform and manufactured using its 2'-ACE RNA synthesis chemistry. Exelixis and Dharmacon will apply their strong bioinformatics capabilities to develop the siRNA library. Exelixis plans to use the resulting siRNA reagents for high throughput functional genomic studies designed to characterize drug targets and pathways in mammalian model systems, and Dharmacon will offer siRNA research tools for the publicly available genes to its large base of customers.

RNAi is a powerful new tool of biomedical research that uses siRNA segments to turn off, or silence, the expression of specific genes targeted for study and then assesses the impact on a cell or an entire organism. Dharmacon's technology overcomes difficulties that have been associated with RNAi by using proprietary algorithms to select the best siRNA sequences for each application, eliminating the need for time-consuming and costly trial and error and then pooling candidates for guaranteed gene silencing. Together these proprietary SMARTselection and SMARTpool technologies create potent and specific gene silencing agents that can accelerate critical investigations across a broad range of biomedical and biological research.

"This collaborative effort with a sophisticated drug discovery innovator like Exelixis reinforces the broad utility and outstanding characteristics of our proprietary SMARTselection and SMARTpool technologies for siRNA research," said William S. Marshall, executive vice president research and production at Dharmacon. "Our state-of-the-art synthetic chemistries and breakthrough SMARTselection and SMARTpool technologies uniquely enable RNAi studies to be conducted efficiently and cost effectively using high throughput approaches. By routinely achieving unparalleled levels of gene silencing with a very high probability of success, we can help accelerate and enhance the drug discovery capabilities of our customers."

Under the terms of the agreement, Dharmacon and Exelixis will collaborate to develop siRNA reagents for the library. Dharmacon retains rights to the siRNA reagents developed under the agreement using publicly available genes. Dharmacon plans to make the siRNA reagents from this public gene library commercially available to other customers as they are developed. The companies expect the siRNA library to be completed during the third quarter of 2003. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.