Silence Therapeutics PLC said it was eligible to receive $2 million from Mallinckrodt PLC now that certain preclinical development of its protein-silencing RNAi drug candidate SLN500 is complete.
As part of an agreement entered in July, Silence is eligible to receive up to $10 million in research milestones for the therapy, which is being studied to treat diseases related to the complement system.
This is the first triggered milestone payment related to the drug.
Mallinckrodt can license up to two additional complement-targeted assets from Silence besides SLN500. Silence is responsible for preclinical activities and for executing the development program of each asset until the end of phase 1 studies. Mallinckrodt will take over clinical development and global commercialization activities afterward.
The U.K.-based companies are developing RNAi drug targets that inhibit, or "silence," the complement cascade — a group of proteins that are involved in the immune system and play a role in the development of inflammation and certain autoimmune diseases.
