Released on = May 9, 2006, 4:16 am

Press Release Author = La Merie Business Intelligence

Industry = Biotech

Press Release Summary = With four clinical stage projects and 14 projects
approaching IND status within the next year, RNAi is evolving as a new therapeutic
modality. Topical use of RNAi in ophthalmic diseases dominated the early projects,
but new delivery technologies paved the way to a broad use of RNAi in many
therapeutic areas.

Press Release Body = Barcelona, Spain | May 09, 2006 | The Business Intelligence
firm La Merie S.L. reported today that the RNAi therapeutic pipeline is rapidly
filling and advancing towards clinical development. Four RNAi therapeutic projects
are in early clinical development. At least 32 RNAi projects are in preclinical
development in a variety of therapeutic areas. Viral diseases and cancer are the
preferred indications. A total of 14 RNAi projects are approaching IND status within
one year. At least 20 projects are in advanced research stages. These results and
more were found in a search conducted by La Merie Business Intelligence. The
competitor analysis can be acquired at www.pipelinereview.com , La Merie's News
Center and Online Store.

RNAi technology has been rapidly developed and adopted as a laboratory tool for
potent and specific downregulation (silencing) of the expression of a gene at the
post-transcriptional or even transcriptional level. Now, RNAi has entered the
clinical arena with therapeutic applications. Clinical use of RNAi was pioneered by
Acuity Pharmaceuticals with Cand5. The small interference RNA (siRNA) for VEGF
completed phase II studies in wet AMD and diabetic macular edema. In contrast to
Acuity which is developing as an ophthalmic disease company, major RNAi players
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Sirna Therapeutics as well as other companies are using
novel delivery and protection technologies to broaden therapeutic applications of
RNAi molecules by systemic delivery. The drug delivery technologies use peptides,
nanoparticles, liposomes and other carriers from companies such as Calando
Pharmaceuticals, Novosom, Nastech Pharmaceuticals and SR Pharma.

The availability of siRNA or locked nucleic acid RNA (LNA RNA) greatly reduced the
risk of immunogenicity of RNAi molecules. The delivery technologies appear to solve
the problem of large molecular weight and negative charge of siRNA duplexes which
represents a major challenge for effective cellular uptake and intracellular
delivery. Chemical optimization of the RNAi molecules as well as coating
technologies contributed to in vivo stabilization of the RNA molecules. Apart from
the rapidly filling pipeline, the increasing maturity of the RNAi field is also
evidenced by alliances of Big Pharma companies GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis with
RNAi players having a solid intellectual property position.


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About La Merie
La Merie S.L. is a Business Intelligence enterprise fully dedicated to provide high
quality R&D information to the biopharmaceutical industry. La Merie offers
individual consultancy services and publishes reports and periodicals. For more
information visit www.lamerie.com.

SOURCE: La Merie Business Intelligence


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