Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading company in RNA-targeted drug discovery and development, announced that it has earned a $5 million milestone payment from Biogen associated with the validation of an undisclosed target to treat patients with an undisclosed neurological disorder.

Ionis and Biogen have a broad strategic collaboration to develop drugs to treat patients with neurological disorders. For this newest target, Ionis will continue to evaluate the target with the goal of advancing this program into development.

"Our strategic collaboration with Biogen is very successful. Our most advanced programme, nusinersen, is currently in phase 3 clinical studies, and we have a number of other drugs in development. We benefit tremendously from the expertise Biogen brings to our partnered programs. We also benefit financially as these programmes advance. Across our four collaborations, we have generated more than $350 million from Biogen as our programs have advanced," said B. Lynne Parshall, chief operating officer at Ionis. "As we enter 2016, we expect to continue to expand our collaboration with Biogen as we identify new targets and move new antisense drugs into development."

Ionis and Biogen have a broad strategic alliance focused on leveraging antisense technology to advance the treatment of neurological and neuromuscular disorders. This alliance combines Ionis' expertise in antisense technology to evaluate potential neurological targets and discover antisense drugs with Biogen's capability to develop therapies for neurological disorders. Ionis is primarily responsible for drug discovery and early development of antisense therapies. Biogen has the option to license each antisense programme at a particular stage in development. Current development-stage programmes include antisense drugs to treat patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), nusinersen; myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), IONIS-DMPK-2.5Rx; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), IONIS-SOD1Rx; and an undisclosed neurodegenerative disease, IONIS-BIIB4Rx. In addition to these four drugs, Ionis and Biogen have numerous opportunities to evaluate additional targets for the development of drugs to treat neurological disorders.