The patent covers RNA interference (RNAi) mediated inhibition of gene expression using short-interfering ribonucleic acids (siRNA), broadly covering any siRNA molecule which targets conserved sequences within a virus or a gene.
Sirna emphasizes the importance of the patent in enabling increased therapeutic potential of RNAi technology. Not only does it allow an siRNA therapeutic to target the conserved region of a virus, it also allows it to target more than one gene in a biological pathway to increase the therapeutic effect of an siRNA.
The patent will cover the development of siRNA therapeutics to treat RNA viruses such as hepatitis C, HIV, respiratory syncytial, influenza, bird flu, and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) as well as other viral or gene targets where targeting a conserved region would provide therapeutic benefit.
“These viruses mutate at a high frequency and can become resistant to single agent therapies. However, not all regions of the virus mutate at the same rate. The conserved viral regions are those that mutate at a lower rate thus targeting this region decreases the likelihood that the virus can mutate to escape the action of a therapeutic. By targeting conserved sequences of an RNA virus, such as HCV or RSV, we can have a potent therapeutic effect on a wide range of viral variants” said Dr Barry Polisky, senior vice president and CEO at Sirna.