Nastech gets extra $1.9M for antiflu siRNA R&D

The USA's Nastech Pharmaceutical Co says that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded it a $1.9 million research project (R01) grant. Combined with an earlier Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant, its total funding from the NIH is approximately $2.3 million and will be used to further develop the company's small-interfering RNA therapeutics to prevent and treat influenza. A grant for additional program funding is still pending.

Nastech is developing siRNA therapeutics that specifically target conserved regions of the influenza viral genome. The company believes that targeting the conserved regions could enable a siRNA therapeutic to be effective against both current and future strains of the influenza virus. Nastech further believes that the ability to treat future strains is essential in stockpiling a treatment for rapid mobilization during an influenza pandemic. The goals of the grant-funded research include the design and optimization of siRNAs against seasonal and avian influenza viruses, testing in vivo activity of new siRNA delivery agents and evaluating viral drug resistance mechanisms.