Regulus and Biogen Idec Collaborate To Expand MS Research

Regulus Therapeutics,  a biopharmaceutical company leading the discovery and development of innovative medicines targeting microRNAs, has announced a collaboration with Biogen Idec  to expand research focused on identifying microRNAs as biomarkers for multiple sclerosis (MS).   

The company will partner under its Regulus microMarkers division and will profile a large number of whole blood samples from MS patients treated with a Biogen Idec MS therapy to identify potential microRNA signatures. As part of the agreement with Biogen, it will receive an upfront payment of $2 million and can receive future payments when certain research milestones are achieved.

"We are pleased to grow the Regulus microMarkers division and expand our research on microRNA biomarkers with Biogen Idec," David L. Szekeres, Chief Business Officer and General Counsel of Regulus, said. "Our collaboration has made significant progress to date and we are hopeful to continue to help advance Biogen Idec's leading multiple sclerosis franchise in a meaningful way.”

The companies have been partners for MS research since 2012, giving Regulus the opportunity to utilize its “highly reproducible, proprietary technology platform to extract, profile, and analyze microRNAs from small volumes of blood (plasma, serum or whole blood) to profile over 400 serum samples from MS patients and compare those profiles against the profiles of healthy volunteers,” according to a Regulus.

The results of this most recent research defined the scope of their current research, cancelling the terms of the original agreement in 2012.

Currently there are 13 therapies for treating and managing MS, and there are even more MS therapies in development today than at any other time in history. According to the MS Society, scientific breakthroughs to identify risk factors that can increase a person’s susceptibility to MS, could help lead to new methods of MS prevention.

One of the benchmark discoveries in the past 10 years was that of small RNAs, known as microRNAs, in humans. More than 800 microRNAs have been identified in the human genome, and over one-third of all human genes are believed to be regulated by microRNAs. 

MicroRNAs have proven pivotal in research for a number of diseases because they can:

• Significantly alter many disease states, including oncology, fibrosis, metabolic diseases, immune-inflammatory diseases, and HCV. 
• Act as biomarkers for multiple diseases 
• Mimic the expression profile observed in disease tissues. 

• Potentially be used to select optimal patient segments in clinical trials, according to Regulus

 Regulus has also partnered with an unnamed commercial-stage pharmaceutical company to explore microRNAs as biomarkers for specific patient populations. The company has also maintained a number of academic research collaborations focused on the identification of microRNAs as biomarkers in multiple disease areas.