Benitec Limited RNAi Patent Update

Sydney, Mar 22, 2011 (ABN Newswire) - Benitec Limited (ASX:BLT) (PINK:BNIKF), a world leader in expressed gene silencing for human therapeutics, today announced further positive progress in its fundamental Graham family patent applications exclusively licensed from CSIRO worldwide for human therapeutics. These patents cover silencing of genes using DNA-directed RNA interference (ddRNAi). Progress on these patent applications further strengthens Benitec's position with regards to both its revenue opportunities from licensing of ddRNAi technology for research use and in the commercialization potential of its ddRNAi-based therapeutics, being developed both in house and for the treatment of chronic and life threatening medical conditions, such as infectious diseases and cancer.