 BOULDER, Colo., June 22, 2020 GLOBE NEWSWIRE -- miRagen Therapeutics, Inc. MGEN, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies, today announced preclinical safety and efficacy data for MRG-229, a next-generation miR-29 mimic intended for systemic administration and targeted delivery, in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis IPF. In addition, subcutaneous administration of the product candidate induced the reversal of pathologic fibrotic gene expression and resulted in a significant reduction of fibrosis in the most commonly employed pre-clinical animal model of pulmonary fibrosis. In our recently published analysis of fibrosis progression in the human lung, miR-29 emerged as a key regulator of fibrotic pathways in IPF, said Naftali Kaminski, M.D., Boehringer-Ingelheim Endowed Professor of Internal Medicine, Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, and the principle investigator on NIH-NHLBI CADET grant focusing on mir-29 therapeutics in pulmonary fibrosis. 