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Pharma & Bio Ingredients
Merck's stock fell 45 cents to $45.64 at the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange and remained unchanged in after-hours trading.
Sirna is developing drugs using so-called RNA interference technology. There are at least a half-dozen biotechnology companies developing drugs that silence genes by interfering with the messenger-carrying RNA, a technique discovered by this year's Nobel winners, Andrew Fire of Stanford University and Craig Mello at the University of Massachusetts. There are eight U.S and European patents specifically related to the technology.
Analysts said the deal could spur other similar acquisitions of some of Sirna's handful of competitors who are racing to commercialize a discovery made only eight years ago -- a short time in the scientific world.
Normally skittish venture capitalists already have invested hundreds of millions in the nascent technology and now Merck has made its second, most substantive bet on RNA interference. The Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based company previously had invested in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a Sirna competitor.
The closest drug Sirna has near market is for the treatment of the eye disorder, macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in the elderly. However, that drug is still at least two years from regulatory approval and probably further out because its experimental treatment will require the successful completion of at least two costly, time-consuming and large-scale human trials testing for safety and effectiveness.
