Dive Brief:
- Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, a Watertown, MA-based biotech firm has signed a lease for a 37,186-square foot office in Cambridge, MA.
- Dicerna, which focuses on developing treatments for rare inherited diseases that affect the liver and cancers that are genetically defined, had a $90 million IPO in January -- the largest biotech IPO in Massachusetts so far this year.
- Dicerna uses a proprietary RNA interference (RNAi) platform as part of its development process.
Dive Insight:
Dicerna uses its RNAi platform -- a form of gene-silencing technology -- to develop therapies to treat “undruggable” targets, or targets that cannot be successfully targeted by small molecule drugs or antibodies. Earlier this month, Dicerna publicized its positive preclinical data on DCR-PH1, a candidate developed to treat the rare liver disorder primary hyperoxaluria type 1 (PH1).
“The goal in Dicerna’s search for a new headquarters location was to identify an office and laboratory space that would enhance our open and collaborative corporate culture," said Dicerna's chief business officer, Jim Weissman. "The scale and setting of 87 Cambridge Park Drive offers Dicerna an expanded footprint in the dynamic Cambridge biotech community that is very much consistent with who we are as a company.”