Wednesday, October 10, 2012
The Regulus IPO: A Reason to Invest in MicroRNA Therapeutics
Disclaimer: This blog is not intended for distribution to or use by any person or entity who is a citizen or resident of, or located in any locality, state, country or other jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, availability or use would be contrary to law or regulation or which would subject the author or any of his collaborators and contributors to any registration or licensing requirement within such jurisdiction. This blog expresses only my opinions, they may be flawed and are for entertainment purposes only. Opinions expressed are a direct result of information which may or may not be accurate, and I do not assume any responsibility for material errors or to provide updates should circumstances change. Opinions expressed in this blog may have been disseminated before to others. This blog should not be taken as investment, legal or tax advice. The investments referred to herein may not be suitable for you. Investments particularly in the field of RNAi Therapeutics and biotechnology carry a high risk of total loss. You, the reader must make your own investment decisions in consultation with your professional advisors in light of your specific circumstances. I reserve the right to buy, sell, or short any security including those that may or may not be discussed on my blog.
5 comments:
So does the rise of microRNA therapeutics help Silence Therapeutics, Marina Biotech and Tekmira the most? Are lipid delivery systems ideal for microRNA mimics and inhibitors?
For the delivery of microRNA mimics, and some inhibitors, additional delivery technologies will be used, and yes, RNAi Co.s may capitalize on that. Of course, depends on cell type being targeted.
I hope you would be willing to expound on your belief that oligonucleotide microRNA mimetics have a potential niche that is different (?broader) than the targets so far selected by the likes of ALNY and TKM.
"Despite falling in the oligonucleotide therapeutics category and despite being younger and technically less validated, microRNA Therapeutics have an important marketing advantage over RNAi and RNaseH antisense."
Could you describe in more detail what types of targets are more suitable for these microRNA mimics?
Also, are there any theoretical reasons that some particular type of delivery methodology would be best suited for the Regulus pipeline? For instance, do you see any relative advantage for Tekmira, Alnylam, or Arrowhead in this regard----or does Regulus have its own angle on delivery?
The targets...totally depends on the specific disease, but: microRNAs are involved in many diseases (that makes them targets in the first place) AND they regulate biology in new ways (that raises possibility that microRNA Rx can provide new treatment approaches, esp. for some of the more complex diseases). Consequently, Big Pharma can ill afford to ignore them.
Regulus mostly does microRNA inhibition using single-stranded phosphorothioated oligonucleotides without much additional delivery. Delivery techs initially especially for the microRNA mimic approaches. One disadvantage of the Arrowhead DPC approach for microRNA mimic delivery is that they need to accommodate extensive stabilization chemistries. Especially with Tekmira's SNALPs, this is not required.
Post a Comment