Bothell, Washington, USA
May 8, 2012

-Marina Biotech, Inc. (OTCQX: MRNA) announced today that it has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Monsanto Company for Marina Biotech's delivery and chemistry technologies. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"We are pleased to enter into this agreement with Monsanto, a global leader in agriculture and crop sciences," stated J. Michael French, President and Chief Executive Officer of Marina Biotech. "Over the last several years, we have been focused on bringing together novel chemistry and delivery technologies necessary to broadly apply our discovery platform across the life sciences sector. We view this license as yet another important validation of this platform and we look forward to a strong and growing relationship with Monsanto."

Marina Biotech is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of oligonucleotide-based therapeutics utilizing multiple mechanisms of action including RNA interference (RNAi) and messenger RNA translational blocking. The Marina Biotech pipeline currently includes a clinical program in Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (a precancerous syndrome) and two preclinical programs -- in bladder cancer and malignant ascites. Marina Biotech entered into an exclusive agreement with The Debiopharm Group for the development and commercialization of the bladder cancer program. In addition, Marina Biotech has entered into an agreement with both Mirna Therapeutics and ProNAi Therapeutics to license Marina Biotech's SMARTICLES(R) technology for the delivery of microRNA mimics and DNAi, respectively. Marina Biotech's goal is to improve human health through the development of RNAi- and oligonucleotide-based compounds and drug delivery technologies that together provide superior therapeutic options for patients.

Website: http://www.marinabio.com/

Published: May 8, 2012