Nastech Pharmaceutical Company Inc. Completes Key RNAi Patent Filings
11 Marzo 2008 - 6:00AM
Business Wire
Nastech Pharmaceutical Company Inc. (Nasdaq: NSTK) announced today
that it has completed filing 83 patent applications (79
international applications and 4 U.S. applications) directed toward
144 different genes with siRNA�s designed and modified using
Nastech�s proprietary RNAi technologies. These gene targets are
disease-validated against cancer, inflammatory disease, and
metabolic disorders. Overall, these patent applications are
directed toward tens of thousands of targets. The inventions
involve the use of Dicer substrates (25-30 nucleotide two-stranded
duplexes), Meroduplex substrates (three stranded constructs with an
antisense strand of 15-30 nucleotides and two sense strands), and
non-chemically modified base substitutions with specific,
experimentally determined sequences within the 144 gene sequences,
which include the disease-validated targets. The inventors of this
target gene patent estate, Drs. Steven Quay, James McSwiggen,
Narendra Vaish, and Mohammad Ahmadian, are all Nastech employees.
�Today�s announcement is the culmination of our multi-year
intellectual property strategy in RNAi,� stated Steven C. Quay,
M.D., Ph.D., Nastech�s Chairman and CEO. �Our goal has been to
provide a patent estate for potential partners that is independent
of the two primary, exclusively licensed commercial IP estates, one
such estate directed broadly to RISC substrates without reference
to target genes and the other such estate directed to a set of
target genes that operate with either Dicer or RISC. Until now,
these two estates effectively tied up the most interesting and
commercially promising targets for just two companies to exploit.
For the first time in several years, all 20,000 human genes are
once again available for development through our patent estate
enabling us to pursue any disease target of our choosing without
the need to obtain licenses to existing patents.� Conference Call
and Webcast Information To participate in the live conference call,
U.S. residents should dial 866-700-7173 and international callers
should dial 617-213-8838. The access code for the live conference
call is 59500262. To access the 24-hour telephone replay, U.S.
residents should dial 888-286-8010 and international callers should
dial 617-801-6888. The access code for the replay is 80679296.
Alternatively, to access the live audio webcast for this conference
call or the subsequent archive, please go to Nastech's website at
http://www.nastech.com approximately 15 minutes prior to the
conference call in order to register and download any necessary
software. About RNA Interference (RNAi) RNA interference, or RNAi,
is a cellular mechanism that can be used to turn off the production
of a protein by using small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). siRNAs are
double-stranded RNA molecules that are able to silence a gene in a
sequence-specific manner by degradation of the target messenger
RNA. In the case of an siRNA directed against influenza, the target
is one or more genes that encode proteins critical for viral
replication. If siRNAs are successful at turning off the production
of such proteins, the spread of infection would be prevented or
slowed. Nastech's RNAi research and development programs seek to
develop safe and effective therapeutics by identifying key protein
targets, designing the siRNA that will turn off the production of
the targeted proteins, and developing a formulation for the
delivery of this potential new class of therapeutics. About Nastech
Nastech is a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative
products based on proprietary molecular biology-based drug delivery
technologies. Nastech and its collaboration partners are developing
products for multiple therapeutic areas including osteoporosis,
obesity, diabetes, autism, respiratory diseases and inflammatory
conditions. Additional information about Nastech is available at
http://www.nastech.com. About MDRNA, Inc. MDRNA, a company
developing innovative products based on RNA-based technologies, is
a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nastech. Discovery of the biological
process of RNA interference (RNAi) garnered the Nobel Prize in
Medicine in 2006, and holds tremendous potential as a basis for
human therapeutics. Nastech began work on RNAi in 2002 and has
assigned its intellectual property, as it relates to the
development of RNA-based therapeutics, to MDRNA in order to bring
greater focus on the development of RNA-based technologies and
enhance shareholder value arising from this exciting new field.
Additional information about MDRNA is available at
http://www.mdrnainc.com. Nastech Forward-Looking Statement
Statements made in this press release may be forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Federal Securities laws that are
subject to certain risks and uncertainties and involve factors that
may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected
or suggested. Factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those in forward-looking statements include, but
are not limited to: (i) the ability of Nastech or a subsidiary to
obtain additional funding; (ii) the ability of Nastech or a
subsidiary to attract and/or maintain manufacturing, research,
development and commercialization partners; (iii) the ability of
Nastech, a subsidiary and/or a partner to successfully complete
product research and development, including preclinical and
clinical studies and commercialization; (iv) the ability of
Nastech, a subsidiary and/or a partner to obtain required
governmental approvals; and (v) the ability of Nastech, a
subsidiary and/or a partner to develop and commercialize products
that can compete favorably with those of competitors. Additional
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those projected or suggested in any forward-looking statements are
contained in Nastech's most recent periodic reports on Form 10-K
and Form 10-Q that are filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Nastech assumes no obligation to update and supplement
forward-looking statements because of subsequent events.
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