BOTHELL, Wash., Aug. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nastech Pharmaceutical Company Inc. announced today that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded the company a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant. This award will be used to further develop the Company’s small-interfering RNA (siRNA) therapeutics to prevent and treat influenza. Influenza infects approximately 5-15 percent of the world’s population in a typical year, resulting in 250,000 to 500,000 deaths according to the World Health Organization. Additional grants for program funding are still pending.
Nastech is developing siRNA therapeutics that specifically target conserved regions of the influenza viral genome, based on intellectual property obtained in February 2006 from the acquisition of Galenea Corp. The company believes that targeting the conserved regions could enable a siRNA therapeutic to be effective against both current and future strains of the influenza virus. The company further believes that the ability to treat future strains is essential in stockpiling a treatment for rapid mobilization during an influenza pandemic. The goals of the grant-funded research include the design and optimization of siRNAs against seasonal and avian influenza viruses, testing in vivo activity of new siRNA delivery agents and evaluating viral drug resistance mechanisms.
“The NIH funds reflect the importance of this new approach to treat influenza and recognition of the strong results we have produced. To date, we have demonstrated the effectiveness of our siRNA therapeutics to broadly target and inhibit influenza, both in vitro and in vivo,” stated Steven C. Quay, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman, President and CEO of Nastech. “We will continue to move this program forward in order to better meet the public’s need for a safe and effective treatment against influenza infection.”
About Influenza
Influenza infects millions of people worldwide and results in hundreds of thousands of deaths every year. The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are concerned about the potential for a major global pandemic, such as the 1918 “Spanish flu” in which up to 50 million people may have died worldwide. Pandemic flu emerges from a sudden change in the influenza virus resulting in a new flu strain, for which there may be no immunity. Vaccines currently represent the mainstay of flu prevention, but vaccines have two key limitations. First, they are developed against individual, known strains of flu and therefore may not be effective against new flu strains. Second, vaccines are produced using a lengthy process requiring incubation in chicken eggs, thus vaccine against a new flu strain could take months or years to stockpile. Antiviral medications approved to treat influenza have the potential drawback of influenza virus strains becoming resistant to one or more of these medications. The potential advantage of RNAi antiviral therapeutics is that siRNA can be targeted against the conserved region of the influenza virus. This means that an RNAi therapeutic would be expected to be effective against all strains of the influenza virus, whether new or old. Therefore, it is possible to stockpile an effective RNAi treatment in advance of a global influenza pandemic. In addition to a pandemic flu outbreak, RNAi therapeutics could also serve as a treatment for the more common seasonal flu that, as noted above, can result in hospitalization and death.
About RNA Interference (RNAi)
RNA interference, or RNAi, is a cellular mechanism that can be used to turn off the production of a protein. In the case of an RNAi directed against influenza, the target is one or more proteins critical for viral replication. By turning off the production of such proteins, the spread of infection is prevented or slowed. Nastech’s RNAi research and development programs seek to develop safe and effective therapeutics by identifying key protein targets, designing the siRNA that will turn off the production of the targeted proteins, and developing a formulation for the systemic delivery of this potential new class of therapeutics.
About Nastech
Nastech is a pharmaceutical company developing innovative products based on proprietary molecular biology-based drug delivery technologies. Nastech and its collaboration partners are developing products for multiple therapeutic areas including osteoporosis, diabetes, obesity, respiratory diseases and inflammatory conditions. Additional information about Nastech is available at www.nastech.com.
Nastech Forward Looking Statements
Statements made in this press release may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Federal Securities laws that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and involve factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (i) the ability of Nastech to obtain additional funding; (ii) the ability of Nastech to attract and/or maintain manufacturing, research, development and commercialization partners; (iii) Nastech’s and/or a partner’s ability to successfully complete product research and development, including preclinical and clinical studies and commercialization; (iv) Nastech’s and/or a partner’s ability to obtain required governmental approvals; and (v) Nastech’s and/or a partner’s ability to develop and commercialize products that can compete favorably with those of competitors. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested in any forward-looking statements are contained in Nastech’s most recent periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Nastech assumes no obligation to update and supplement forward-looking statements because of subsequent events.
CONTACTS: Nastech Ed Bell Senior Investor Relations Manager (425) 908-3639 ir@nastech.com Noonan Russo Matthew Haines (Investors/Media) (212) 845-4235
Nastech Pharmaceutical Company Inc.
CONTACT: Ed Bell, Senior Investor Relations Manager, of Nastech,+1-425-908-3639, ir@nastech.com ; Matthew Haines, Investors, Media, ofNoonan Russo, for Nastech, +1-212-845-4235
Web site: http://www.nastech.com/
