(Sharecast News) - Novel short interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) therapy developer Silence Therapeutics announced on Friday that healthcare-focussed investor Frazier Life Sciences Public Fund had purchased about $20m of its existing shares.
The AIM-traded firm said that as a result, Frazier was now a 3% shareholder in the company.

"Frazier Life Sciences is excited for the prospects for Silence's RNA interference platform technology and the potential for the company's growth, given its promising pipeline and the noteworthy success other companies have demonstrated with RNA interference programs," said Frazier's managing partner Albert Cha.

Mark Rothera, president and chief executive officer of Silence, said that Frazier had a "track record" of partnering with science-driven healthcare businesses, with Silence "very pleased" to have them as an "important" new shareholder.

"This comes at an exciting time for the company as we progress two important, wholly-owned clinical stage programmes, and rapidly expand our preclinical pipeline leveraging our 'mRNAi GOLD' platform," Rothera added.

At 1150 GMT, shares in Silence Therapeutics were up 2.8% at 550p.