Despite many problems there is still a lot of enthusiasm
about using siRNA for therapeutic purposes. Alnylam and Tekmira are two of the
better companies in the commercial RNAi arena. However, for the last year or so
they have been locked in a legal battle concerning some formulations (termed
Lipid Nanoparticles (LNPs)) used to deliver siRNA. It has been sad to see them
waste resources on a patent squabble at this critical time for the field. Now
apparently this dispute has been settled (see CEN report below). Thus presumably things will move more
smoothly in applying LNPs to deliver siRNA to targets in the liver, where the
technology works great.
But what about targets in organs other than the liver? LNPs
have a dismal record in this context since they are too big to cross capillary
walls in most tissues. Industrial and academic scientists need to work together
to develop some advanced siRNA delivery technologies that will have a broader
reach within the body.
http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i47/Alnylam-Tekmira-Settle-RNAi-Dispute.html
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