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Lakewood Amedex has developed a breakthrough technology platform for the disruption/silencing of genes in vivo, termed nano or nRNA. The nRNA technology platform employs small inhibitory RNA molecules (nRNAs) to selectively bind to the messenger RNA of a target gene and shutdown translation of the messenger RNA into an active product. Unlike traditional antisense RNA technologies, Lakewood Amedex’s approach utilizes a minimally modified natural chemistry that produces a chirally pure RNA molecule resulting in more efficient targeting/silencing while exhibiting minimal or no toxicity. In addition, the novel chemistry produces an nRNA that is extremely stable, resistant to nucleases, and adaptable to oral, intravenous, or pulmonary delivery.
The Company has conducted a number of studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of its technology using animal models for muscle wasting, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and influenza. Lakewood Amedex believes its nRNA technology will have broad therapeutic applications since almost all diseases can be attributed to altered gene expression, therefore, the ability to regulate a specific gene associated with a disease provides the ability to cure or ameliorate the condition. Lakewood Amedex is initially focusing its efforts on the development of effective nRNA therapeutics for the treatment of infectious diseases such as influenza, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and nasopharyngeal carcinoma induced by Epstein Barr virus.
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Antiviral Market Overview
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The antivirals market is to a large part dominated by the anti-retroviral drugs targeting HIV which generated approximately $8.5 billion in sales in 2006. For the most part, antiviral drugs are small molecules that have proven somewhat effective in delaying the progression of the disease but cannot be used to stop its transmission. Furthermore, viruses due to their very nature are effective in overcoming these drugs and a large number of drugs in this class fail in late stage human clinical trials. In general, the first line of defence in stopping the spread of or eradicating a viral disease is the development of a vaccine but in the case of viruses such as HIV and many of the emerging viral diseases, development of a vaccine has proven unattainable. A more direct approach is needed which attacks the virus at it most basic level and can rapidly adapt to new viral strains and mutation as well as new viruses.
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