Exhibit 31.1

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER CERTIFICATION

REQUIRED BY RULES 13A-14 AND 15D-14 UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934,

AS AMENDED

I, J. Michael
French, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Marina Biotech, Inc.;

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the
financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4. The
registrants other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined
in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and we have:

a) designed such disclosure controls and
procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

b) designed such internal control over
financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for
external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

c) evaluated the effectiveness of the
registrants disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation;

d) disclosed in this report any change in the registrants internal control over financial reporting that occurred
during the registrants most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrants internal control over financial reporting; and

5. The registrants other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation, to the registrants auditors and the
audit committee of registrants board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent function):

a) all significant
deficiencies in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrants ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrants
internal control over financial reporting.

Date: August 12, 2010



|    |  |                       |  |                                      
|--- |  | --------------------- |  | -------------------------------------
|By: |  | /s/ J. Michael French
|    |  | Name:                 |  | J. Michael French                    
|    |  | Title:                |  | President and Chief Executive Officer