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Biotech / Medical : RNAi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas who wrote (520)	1/9/2007 11:53:32 AM
From: keokalani'nui	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 671

CHICAGO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc.(PFE.N: Quote, Profile , Research) has entered a multimillion-dollar pact with private biotechnology company Mirus Bio Corp. to explore RNAi interference, an emerging area of biotechnology research that involves blocking disease-causing proteins, Mirus Bio said on Tuesday. The move follows rival drugmaker Merck & Co. Inc.'s (MRK.N: Quote, Profile , Research) $1.1 billion deal in October to buy Sirna Therapeutics Inc., in which Merck paid nearly double the prevailing stock price. RNA interference, or RNAi, is based on the idea of shutting off or silencing genetic messenger cells that trigger disease. Scientists believe the technology could help produce new treatments for AIDS, cancer and blindness. The two-year deal with Mirus Bio follows Pfizer's Jan. 3 deal with Sigma-Aldrich Corp. (SIAL.O: Quote, Profile , Research) for the nonexclusive license to its RNAi technology for drug research. No terms were disclosed. The Mirus Bio deal calls for the use of the Madison, Wisconsin-based company's gene silencing delivery technology in animal studies. The technology is based on manipulating ribonucleic acid -- the genetic messenger cell -- to block the formation of proteins that can cause disease. The studies will use Mirus Bio's nucleic acid delivery platforms to target and suppress the expression of genes of interest to Pfizer. "The lack of effective delivery methods has been the Achilles' heel impeding progress in the emerging field of RNA interference," Russell Smestad, Mirus Bio's president, said in a statement. Mirus Bio has two delivery platforms. The first is a hydrodynamic injection method that temporarily restricts blood flow and floods the vessel with nucleic acids and saline solution, allowing the solution to permeate the surrounding tissue. The treatment allows for delivery of the agent to an entire limb or other targeted area. The second delivery platform involves formulating tiny gene-silencing nanoparticles that are delivered through intravenous injection.