Hybridon Antisense Chemistry Reviewed

New therapies for cancer, AIDS, human papilloma virus, cytomegalovirus, Alzheimer's disease, asthma and other diseases, based on a new family of advanced antisense chemistries developed by US biotechnology company Hybridon, are under development in research laboratories in Europe and the USA, according to the firm.

Earlier this month, Hybridon sponsored a conference in Paris, France, where researchers reported progress on their work with antisense technologies. Among them, Hoffmann-La Roche scientist David Szymkowski (working at Roche's research center in Welwyn Garden City, UK) presented the first positive in vivo results of activity of an advanced antisense compound targeted against human papilloma virus, one of the most prevalent sexually-transmitted diseases and the cause of genital warts. There is currently no satisfactory therapy for this condition, according to Hybridon.

Dr Szymkowski noted that advanced antisense chemistries targeted against HPV were superior to analogous first-generation (phosphorothioate) antisense molecules in an animal test. He said that "preliminary results indicate that growth of HPV-infected human tissue in a nude mouse model is significantly reduced when mice are treated with HPV-specific antisense oligos prepared by Hybridon scientists."