"Licensing the Histidine-Lysine polymer nanoparticle technology is rooted in our long time experience and in-depth understanding of this unique class of polypeptides as an siRNA delivery vehicle. The two year collaboration between Dr. Mixson and Sirnaomics, supported by a Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) grant, facilitated progress of our scarless wound healing program and resulted in the discovery and development of STP705 (Cutasil?®)," said the President and CEO of the company, Dr. Patrick Y. Lu. "The collaboration and licensing agreement have provided an important foundation for Sirnaomics' technology and product development. We are currently engaging in several similar collaborative efforts and we believe that this is a great way to create value and ensure the credibility of a novel technology."

"STP705 is a topically applied formulation for delivery of the siRNAs to the wound site and it has demonstrated accelerated wound repair yet with reduced scar formation in both murine and swine excisional wound models," explained Dr. David Evans, the company's vice president for discovery research. "The remarkable therapeutic benefits of STP705 in these models have clearly demonstrated the power of HKP for in vivo siRNA delivery and, based on our extensive data set we are actively seeking partnerships to drive STP705 to the market". The exciting experimental results will be reported during the upcoming Keystone Symposia "RNA Silencing: Mechanism, Biology and Application" on January 14-19, 2010.