Silence Therapeutics receives notice of allowance for RNAi patent

The patent office issued a ‘notice of allowance’ for patent application, which covers stabilized, small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules with defined positional modifications.

The claims cover siRNA molecules that are ‘blunt ended’, as well as molecules with one or more ‘overhangs’ and specifically cover the company’s proprietary siRNA molecules, known as ‘AtuRNAi’.

The company has also received a notice of acceptance from the Australian Patent Office for RNAi patent application. The European equivalent of the US and Australian patent applications was granted by the European Patent Office in January 2007.

Iain Ross, chairman and CEO of Silence Therapeutics, said: “With the US patent allowance, we are now significantly better positioned to achieve our goal of becoming one of the leading companies in the field of RNAi therapeutics and delivery.”