It wouldn’t be a stretch to call 2018 the year RNA-based treatments, such as those applying RNA interference (RNAi) or small interfering RNA (siRNA), finally reached the proverbial tipping point predicted ever since Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering RNAi.
Earlier this month, Moderna Therapeutics carried out the largest-ever initial public offering (IPO) for a biotech. And in August, Alnylam won the first-ever FDA approval for an RNAi drug in the U.S. Both companies appear on GEN’s first-ever list of top biopharmas focused on leveraging RNA-based treatments.
