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news.Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has entered into a collaboration with researchers from the University of Georgia to discover and develop a Direct RNAi therapeutic for pandemic influenza.
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Alnylam will apply RNAi technology to the discovery of short interfering RNAs (siRNAs), the active molecules of RNA interference (RNAi), that target key flu genes required for virus replication and demonstrate potent anti-viral activity across human and avian flu strains.
Newly emerging flu strains, like the avian subtype H5N1 that has infected human patients with a high rate of mortality, may potentially trigger an influenza pandemic, or worldwide outbreak of disease, according to health officials from the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
Health experts generally agree that an influenza pandemic could occur in the near future, and that such a pandemic could result in a widespread loss of human lives. Alnylam is currently in discussions with US and worldwide health organizations to further advance its efforts to develop an RNAi therapeutic for the treatment of pandemic flu and this collaboration should help accelerate the process.