Rosetta Aims to Use miRNAs as Biomarkers for Pharmaceutical R&D

Rosetta's president and CEO also noted that the company continues to work in the miRNA therapeutics space, but indicated that its collaboration with Regulus Therapeutics to develop a liver cancer drug has officially ended.

NIH to Fund Projects Examining Cellular Responses to siRNAs, Other Perturbing Agents

The program is designed to support the collection and analysis of "informative molecular activity and cellular feature signatures" in response to siRNAs, small molecules, and other perturbing agents in a variety of cell types.

Tekmira Inks siRNA Delivery Tech Deal with Pfizer, Reports Higher Q4 Losses on R&D Spending

"Tekmira will be responsible for preparing the SNALP formulations and Pfizer will evaluate the formulations in preclinical models," the companies said.

USPTO Allows Claims on Regulus miRNA Patent Application

The application, owned by Stanford University and exclusively licensed to Regulus, claims methods of antagonizing miR-181a to regulate immune response.

IP Update

USPTO Publishes Two Patents, Eight Patent Applications Related to RNAi

People in the News

Bharat Chowrira

Gradalis Moves shRNA Drug into Clinic, Plans Follow-on Trial for Later in the Year

The ongoing trial is expected to help lay the groundwork for a follow-on cancer therapy that will also incorporate the company's novel RNAi approach, and is expected to enter phase I testing around the third quarter.

Despite Potential of RNAi, Companies in the Space Keep Pipelines Focused

Although RNAi can be used to knock down virtually any gene of interest, companies working in the space have taken a decidedly measured approach in building their internal pipelines, maintaining a relatively small number of drug-development programs.

NIH Awards More Than $800K in March to Fund Three miRNA-Related Research Projects

The awards will support projects investigating the roles the small, non-coding RNAs play in cancer and asthma.

IP Update

USPTO Publishes Three Patents, Five Patent Applications Related to RNAi

People in the News

Philip Frost

Alnylam Execs Foresee Partnerships in 2010, Provide Few Details as Pipeline Advances

Alnylam's top official said that while the company is encouraged that it will be able to confirm efficacy data observed in a phase IIa trial of its respiratory syncytial virus treatment ALN-RSV01, he stressed that it may not be able to do so in a follow-up study initiated late last month.

MIT Seeks Dismissal from Tuschl IP Litigation

As part of its request for dismissal, MIT admitted no wrongdoing, but agreed to be bound by any court ruling against the case's other defendants, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and the University of Massachusetts Medical School.