Abstract
Merck & Co. has entered a collaboration with circular RNA company Orna Therapeutics to develop several programs, including vaccines and therapeutics for infectious diseases and oncology. Merck will pay Orna $150 million up front and invest $100 million of equity in Orna’s series B financing round, which initially closed Aug. 16 with $221 million. Orna could receive up to $3.5 billion in milestone payments. The company’s technology stems from research done at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by cofounder Alex Wesselhoeft and molecular geneticist Daniel G. Anderson, who is on Orna’s board of directors. To make circular RNA, which the firm has dubbed oRNA, Orna brings together the two ends of a strand of linear messenger RNA (mRNA). Because the loose ends can be targeted by RNA-degrading enzymes, RNA circles are stabler in the body than linear strands, CEO Tom Barnes says. That greater stability helps the circles produce more
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