A leading oligonucleotide-based drug discovery and development company, Marina Biotech Inc.,  has announced that the company has received Notice of Acceptance for patent application 580712 from the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ).

The claims broadly cover multiple sequence independent and length independent, nucleic acid constructs having one or more unlocked nucleobase analogues (UNAs). The nucleic acid constructs of the patent include both RISC and dicer length siRNAs, both microRNA mimetics and microRNA antagomirs as well as single-stranded oligonucleotides.

“The company continues to deliver on a patent strategy which expands and protects our broad oligonucleotide therapeutics platform,” stated J Michael French, president and CEO at Marina Biotech. “This allowed patent is part of our global UNA patent portfolio providing broad and comprehensive protection for multiple, distinct UNA containing nucleic acid constructs all of which can modulate gene expression through distinct cellular mechanisms including RNAi, mRNA translational inhibition, steric blocking or microRNA pathways. This patent allowance reinforces our belief that we will continue to obtain patent protection for our UNA technology in other countries thereby strengthening the company's intellectual property position for our broad oligonucleotide drug discovery platform.”

UNA are non-nucleotide, acyclic monomers which provide greater structural flexibility in a nucleic acid strand. Their value has been demonstrated in Marina Biotech's proprietary UsiRNA constructs which are double-stranded small interfering RNA (siRNA) incorporating at least one UNA monomer and are distinct from the standard siRNA constructs used by others in the industry. UsiRNAs are specifically designed to provide greater specificity for RNAi-based therapeutics. Substitution with UNA in the passenger strand (non-targeting strand) is intended to eliminate its participation in the RNAi process. Substitution in the guide strand (targeting strand) is intended to eliminate miRNA-like events, while preserving high siRNA-like activity. Optimization of UNA substitutions in siRNA has previously been published by Merck & Co. (Nucleic Acids Res. 2010 38 (2): 660-671) and Marina Biotech (Nucleic Acids Res. 2011 Mar;39(5):1823-32).

Marina Biotech is focused on the development and commercialization of oligonucleotide-based therapeutics utilizing multiple mechanisms of action including RNA interference (RNAi) and messenger RNA translational blocking.