Ambion Inc. pocketed $10.5 million through a private placement of equity, funds the 15-year-old firm plans to use to advance clinical applications of RNA.

In fact, Austin, Texas-based Ambion bills itself as the "RNA company". A full catalogue of its RNA-based life science research and molecular diagnostic products attests to its claim.

"We provide tools and products, reagents and kits for transcription- and translation-related and other RNA applications," Ambion President Bruce Leander told BioWorld Today. "And we see opportunities to expand that into the clinical marketplace."

He said the funding would allow Ambion to pursue such business goals. The company markets its products to private, academic and government researchers in molecular biology.

"We currently make investments off retained earnings to help expand some of these other opportunities," Leander said. "But we were looking for a way to perhaps grow a little faster by having a little more working capital with which we can perhaps do an acquisition or be more aggressive on the licensing front."

Ambion is tackling the gene-analysis market through development of array analysis and small interfering RNA, or siRNA, products.

"There is a lot being spent in the research market to explore whether this is real or not, and first indications are that it is a very effective way to silence gene expression," Leander said. "We have a number of different products that allow researchers to explore that more - chemically synthesized siRNA, in vitro transcription-based siRNA, siRNA vectors, PCR-mediated siRNA, enzyme-mediated siRNA - a whole range of different ways to produce and work with siRNA."

In March, Ambion entered a deal with Dresden, Germany-based Cenix BioScience GmbH to co-develop and commercialize a human genome-wide siRNA library. The companies, which said they plan to update the library in accordance with the evolution of human genome sequence annotations, expect to release initial products by the middle of the year.

The added funding could help Ambion continue in that direction.

San Francisco-based Telegraph Hill Partners LP led the deal and added J. Matthew Mackowski to Ambion's board in the process.

Growth Capital Partners LP, which holds a minority stake in Ambion, advised the company in the transaction, which Leander said gave Telegraph a small share as well. The privately held firm's principle shareholder is founder and CEO Matt Winkler. David Sargent, one of Houston-based Growth Capital's founders, serves on Ambion's board.