In December 2021 it was announced that Danish firm Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) would acquire Decrena Pharmaceutical in a $3.3B transaction. Active in the SBIR arena for 5-6 years before the acqusiton, Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (NASDAQ:DRNA) is a biopharmaceutical company, organized around treatments for liver diseases and cancers based on a proprietary RNA interference technology platform. The company's development programs include DCR-PH1 for the treatment of primary hyperoxaluria type 1 (PH1) through targeting the gene encoding the liver enzyme glycolate oxidase; and other rare inherited diseases involving genes expressed in the liver. It is also developing DCR-MYC, which is in Phase I clinical study for the treatment of various cancers in patients with solid tumors, multiple myeloma, or lymphoma, as well as in Phase Ib/II clinical trial to treat cancer in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition, the company is developing KRAS oncogene, a gene that is mutated in various cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and pancreatic cancer; and a therapeutic targeting a second cancer-related gene. It has a license agreement with City of Hope, an academic research and medical center to manufacture, use, offer for sale, sell, and import products related to DsiRNA for the prevention and treatment of various diseases in humans; licensing and collaboration agreement with Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation to license LNP delivery technology for use in PH1 development program; and a license agreement with Plant Bioscience Limited to research, discover, develop, manufacture, sell, import, and export products incorporating short RNA molecules.
