Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. has linked up with Biogen Inc. for a fourth collaboration in less than two years – one that is broader in scope and heftier financially than previous transactions – prompting analysts and investors to hope that the smaller company’s antisense technology has been proving itself in clinical trials, despite Biogen’s reluctance to commit to a full licensing of the most advanced program on which the companies are partnered.
The two companies announced the collaboration, which Isis is referring to as ‘Biogen 4’, on Sept. 9. The broad six-year strategic research collaboration will use Isis’ antisense technology to discover...