RNAi-based drugs, known as small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), may be able to treat ophthalmic diseases, because drug delivery to the eye is relatively more straightforward and controllable than systemic administration.
Under the terms of the agreement, Dharmacon, a business unit of the Fisher Biosciences group is to enter into the deal with Alcon Research, and Alcon Manufacturing, affiliates of Alcon.
Alcon and Dharmacon will select and prioritise disease-related gene targets, while Dharmacon will be involved in the design and chemical modification of siRNAs to develop compounds. Financial terms of this multi-year agreement were not disclosed.
Central to this deal is the part Dharmacon's SMARTselection will play. The technology is a tool designed for siRNA design; it is an in silico process based on a weighted algorithm which incorporates numerous sequence-specific and thermodynamic parameters as well as bioinformatic analysis to identify unique functional siRNAs.
"We believe RNAi has the potential to generate the next wave of important ophthalmic drugs," said Martin Wax, vice president of research and development and director of ophthalmology discovery research at Alcon.
While it has emerged as a valuable tool for drug discovery and research, as with antisense before it, difficulties in getting the compounds to where they are needed in the body has held back its development as a therapy.
According to a report by Frost and Sullivan, RNAi drugs for eye diseases such as macular degeneration might be a reality by 2010.
An alliance between Merck and Alnylam, formed in June 2004, could fast track the first drug in this class through to market.
The alliance is focused on using RNAi to treat macular degeneration of the eye, as well as other ocular diseases caused by abnormal growth or leakage of small blood vessels in the eye.
The quest to understand RNAi and its future applications have spun off several specialised conferences on RNAi alone.
GeneExpressions Systems, a company providing reagents for RNAi research aims to provide knowledge management seminars to RNAi researchers in the world.
Companies have been giving up on some of the more disappointing genomics research and have become aligned to RNAi research.
One company, Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals in Boulder, Colorado, even rechristened itself 'Sirna Therapeutics' to reflect its new vision.