Good preclinical data for Nastech's avian flu siRNAs

Nastech Pharmaceutical of the USA says that results presented at the 8th International Symposium on Respiratory Viral Infections Conference demonstrate the effectiveness of its small interfering RNA therapeutics broadly targeting and inhibiting influenza viral production.

According to the company, in vitro screening results identified highly-potent siRNAs with IC50 values between 20pM-500pM that were effective against representative human and avian influenza strains, including H5N1.

The Washington-headquartered firm noted that in vivo results demonstrate that direct-to-lung and intravenous administrations of selected proprietary formulations of the siRNAs effectively inhibit influenza viral production in a preclinical model. Nastech that a 200-fold reduction of blood viral concentration was seen.