Roche has entered into a definitive agreement  to acquire Mirus Bio Corp. for $125 million. Mirus Bio is a privately owned company based in Madison, WI, focused on the discovery and development of RNAi delivery technologies.
   
Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will maintain an RNAi research site in Madison. Mirus' transfection reagents business will be divested into a standalone business called Mirus Bio LLC. Employees will be offered a transition into their respective business unit. Closing of the transaction is expected during 2H08.
   
RNAi, a natural mechanism the body uses to 'silence' certain genes, represents a potential new class of therapeutics for difficult to treat diseases. The transport of RNAi molecules into the target cell has been the major challenge for this therapy. Mirus' delivery platform provides a new way of getting RNAi therapeutics to specific disease targets.
   
"The pioneering work in RNAi delivery by the scientists at Mirus, together with our Centre of Excellence for RNAi research in Kulmbach, puts Roche at the forefront of bringing this whole new class of treatment to patients who suffer from difficult to treat diseases," said Lee E. Babiss, global head of Roche Pharma Research. "Our global research team has made great strides in advancing RNAi therapeutics, and with our new colleagues in Madison we will now bolster those efforts. The technology brought by Mirus, together with additional technologies, will bring us closer to creating fully enabled RNAi therapeutics."

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