Nastech gets $1.9 million NIH grant for RNAi flu therapeutics

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Sept. 26 - Nastech Pharmaceutical Co., Inc. said Tuesday that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health, awarded the company a $1.9 million research project (R01) grant.

This award, combined with an earlier SBIR phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research grant award, brings total program funding to about $2.3 million from the NIH that 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, according to a company news release.

The Bothell, Wash., pharmaceutical company is developing siRNA therapeutics that specifically target conserved regions of the influenza viral genome. The company said it believes that targeting the conserved regions could enable a siRNA therapeutic to be effective against both current and future strains of the influenza virus.

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.

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