Market Insight - RNAi: the long road from nucleotide to bedside
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
The discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) fundamentally changed our understanding of biology, and created a powerful tool for biological research to harness this natural process. RNAi technology is an increasingly important platform for drug R&D with the potential to significantly expand the universe of druggable targets. Recently, a number of well-established pharmaceutical companies acquired or secured relationships with smaller companies to gain access to RNAi technology and drive RNAi therapeutics into the market. Like monoclonal antibodies before them, RNAi therapeutics represent a novel treatment modality that promise to usher in a new era of medicine. However, as with monoclonal antibodies, the process of developing a Nobel Prize-winning discovery through to widespread therapeutic use is likely to take time.