Abstract
RNAi Therapeutics:
Challenges in Drug Development and Delivery
Interfering RNA (RNAi) offers tremendous therapeutic promise to silence genes
that give rise to bad, proteins and, therefore, disease. RNAi Therapeutics:
Challenges in Drug Development and Delivery thoroughly evaluates the field of
RNAi therapeutics, with particular attention to the prospects and challenges
faced in RNAi delivery. This report is a comprehensive blueprint for moving
RNAi from the bench to the bedside.
RNAi research is accelerating rapidly. Two clinical trials are in progress to
determine RNAi's effectiveness for treating age-related macular degeneration,
and many products have already reached the market to test the promise that
RNAi holds. As RNAi technology progresses, many companies are now trying to
increase their shares in the research market by shifting some of their
resources to in vitro and in vivo work.
The real prize, however, is in therapeutics, and a few companies have been
started solely with this objective. To establish priority, patents that stake
claims in many possible (as well as speculative) applications of RNAi are not
only being filed but disputed.
RNAi Therapeutics: Challenges in Drug Development and Delivery analyzes these
and other important developments in this dynamic field. Key points include the
following:
- Background is provided on various attempts to silence genes before the
advent of RNAi, namely aptamers, antisense, and ribozyme. Lessons learned from
the failures of antisense clinical trials are discussed.
- The promise of tackling diseases using RNAi is evaluated in detail.
Examples are included that support this technology, from human cell cultures,
to preclinical models, to the first batch of clinical trials using siRNA
(small interfering RNA). Wide-ranging diseases?cancer, influenza, malaria,
HIV, rotavirus, Huntington's disease, and Lou Gehrig's disease-are discussed.
- Advances in in vitro work with cultured cells are examined. Progress made
in in vivo gene silencing is catalogued, including the latest results in
detection of in vivo knockdown in whole mice.
- The problems of RNAi delivery and possible solutions to overcome them are
presented from the point of view of leading scientists in academia and
pharmaceutical companies.
- The therapeutic potential, specific applications, and advantages and
challenges of RNAi are considered, in particular, the prospects of improving
on existing treatment modalities for some cancers such as chronic myelogenous
leukemia.
- The market potential of RNAi drugs is assessed.
- Leading scientists in academia and industry are interviewed.
- Twenty-three companies are profiled, 13 of which are primarily engaged in
RNAi therapeutics-related work and 10 of which are suppliers and service
providers.
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