Sirna Therapeutics, Inc. was a San Francisco, California based biotechnology company that explored the use of RNA interference in human disease therapy.
[1][2] Sirna Therapeutics was acquired by Merck & Co. in 2006, the cash transaction deal was worth $1.1 billion.
It originally considered multiple cities, including Cambridge, Massachusetts and San Diego, California.
Sirna selected San Francisco due to its proximity to various scientific institutions, its workforce, and the payroll tax exemption for biotechnology companies.
Business leaders of San Francisco who hoped that the city would have a major biotechnology presence had a positive reception to the Sirna decision.