Advertise With UsAdvertise on our extensive network of industry websites and newsletters.
Get the PBR newsletterSign up to our free email to get all the latest PBR
news.US-based biotechnology company MDRNA has announced that the National Institutes of Health has awarded the company over $350,000 for further development of the company's siRNA therapeutics program to prevent and treat influenza.
Subscribe to our email newsletter
These funds are part of a five-year grant totaling $1.9 million that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded the company in September 2006 to study the underlying scientific principles that enable RNAi to inhibit influenza.
In preclinical models of influenza, MDRNA has reported efficient intranasal delivery of highly potent Dicer substrate siRNAs with DiLA2-based formulations, which resulted in a 100- to 1,000-fold (99%) reduction in viral titers, decreased clinical signs and increased survival.
Michael Templin, vice president for toxicology and pharmacology at MDRNA, said: “The additional funding provided by the NIH will help to further increase our understanding of the mechanisms of viral resistance against RNAi-based therapeutics as a drug class.
“We will also use these funds to confirm that MDR-03030, our lead Dicer substrate siRNA candidate against human and avian influenza strains, is optimally designed to target the conserved region of the influenza viral genome and thus minimizes the virus’s ability to mutate around the compound.”