In April 2018, Arbutus together with Roivant launched Genevant Sciences, a new jointly-owned company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel RNA-based therapeutics enabled by Arbutus’ LNP and ligand conjugate delivery technologies (collectively, the Delivery Technologies).

Arbutus has licensed exclusive rights to its LNP and ligand conjugate delivery platforms to Genevant for RNA-based applications outside of Hepatitis B virus. Through its expert team and dominant intellectual property in RNA delivery, Genevant plans to develop products in-house and pursue industry partnerships to build a diverse pipeline of therapeutics across multiple modalities, including RNAi, mRNA, and gene editing.

Biopharmaceutical companies developing nucleic acid therapeutics today include companies singularly focused on individual treatment modalities. Through its proprietary delivery platforms, Genevant is able to pursue mRNA, RNAi, and gene editing modalities and select the optimal approach for any given disease. By 2020, Genevant aims to have 5 to 10 RNA programs in the clinic targeting a range of genetic disorders with limited or no treatment options.

In addition to its equity interest in Genevant, Arbutus is entitled to royalties on future sales of products enabled by Arbutus’ LNP and ligand conjugate delivery technologies.