Protiva files suits against Inex, Sirna to protect development of delivery technologies

By Lisa Kerner

Erie, Pa., March 28 - Protiva Biotherapeutics said it has filed two lawsuits protecting its right to advance the research and development of delivery technologies.

The first lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against Vancouver, B.C.-based Inex Pharmaceuticals and four present or former Inex officers.

Protiva is seeking court orders denying Inex's claim it has rights to Protiva's discoveries and preventing Inex from continuing to claim that it has such rights.

Spun out of Inex in 2001, Protiva has since worked independently in its research and development activities.

Protiva said it wants to prevent Inex from transferring various Protiva agreements and patents licensed to Protiva to a new Inex subsidiary called Tekmira.

In the second lawsuit, filed against San-Francisco-based Sirna Therapeutics in California Superior Court, Protiva seeks to stop Sirna from misappropriating trade secrets it gained while in a strategic alliance with Protiva.

Sirna abruptly ended the alliance in 2005 and publicly claimed it had invented its own delivery technology, Protiva said.

"We've brought these lawsuits so we can continue our efforts to develop our new systemic delivery technology - which is currently the best approach to providing the essential missing component of siRNA (small interfering RNA) drugs," president and chief executive officer Mark J. Murray said in the release.

"And that, of course, is all about advancing public health. We have acted to prevent these two companies from further attempts to thwart our progress and to forestall further successes by us."

Protiva's SNALP technology employs lipid (fats or oils) nanospheres to carry siRNA molecules into the cells of the body. The nanospheres are small particles programmed to accumulate in the target disease areas, enabling siRNA drugs to be administered through the blood stream, rather than placed directly at the disease sites.

Protiva is a development-stage biotechnology company based in Vancouver, B.C.

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