Regulus gets $10 million from partnership

Regulus Therapeutics of La Jolla said Thursday it received a $10 million investment from Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis as part of an existing alliance between the two drug companies.

That amount raised Regulus' total fund raising to $98 million, said Garry Menzel, executive vice president for corporate development and finance.

The alliance, which was signed on June 21, could deliver more than $750 million for the development and commercialization of the La Jolla company's fibrosis program targeting microRNA-21 and other microRNA treatments.

MicroRNAs are a short string of ribonucleic acid found throughout cells that play a role in the expression of genes and the development of some diseases such as cancer. (619) 293-1020 Twitter @keithdarce