Indiana’s Kylin Therapeutics looking to raise $2M

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana — Biotech firm Kylin Therapeutics is looking to raise $2 million to help it develop technology that ”turns off” certain disease-causing genes.

The company has sold about $58,000 of its $2 million offering, according to a regulatory filing.

Chief Executive Eric Davis didn’t return a call.

Kylin’s technology is based on what’s known as RNA interference, a technique for ”gene silencing.” Essentially, interference RNAs are introduced into a cell to prevent the expression of genes that cause harmful diseases such as cancer or AIDS. RNA is the abbreviation for ribonucleic acid, a molecule that carries out DNA’s instructions for making proteins.

In 2007, Kylin struck a partnership with a division of drugmaker Wyeth to develop cancer therapeutics for animals. In January 2009, the company announced that it had received a $1.2 million grant from the state of Indiana.

Kylin is backed by North Carolina-based Golden Pine Ventures and Indiana-based In-vivo Ventures. Kylin’s chief executive, Davis, founded In-vivo.

Two researchers won the 2006 Nobel prize for medicine or physiology for their work investigating RNA interference.