Drugging RNA

0 0 Thursday, May 18, 2023 Edit this post

News Feature Published: 17 May 2023 Ken Garber 1 Nature Biotechnology ( 2023 )Cite this article ...

News Feature
Published: 17 May 2023

Ken Garber¹

Nature Biotechnology

(2023)Cite this article

Small molecules that target messenger RNA have therapeutic potential, but the field still lacks an unqualified success. Companies differ on how to move the resurgent field forward.

In January, Atomic AI, with a $35 million A round, joined a short but growing list of companies seeking to drug RNA using small molecules. As the name suggests, the company is applying artificial intelligence to predicting RNA structures. Venture capitalists are not alone in their interest in the RNA-targeted small-molecule approach. Pharma deals have been picking up: Merck & Co., Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi, Amgen, Celgene, Genentech and Janssen Pharmaceuticals have all recently partnered with biotechs in this space (Table 1). Peter Smith, co-founder and CEO of Remix Therapeutics, which also enjoyed some funding in the last year, calls RNA “the next frontier of small-molecule drug discovery.”

Table 1 Selected companies targeting RNA with small molecules

Full size table

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals

Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription

$29.99 per month

cancel any time

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 12 print issues and online access

$209.00 per year

only $17.42 per issue

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

**Fig. 1: Drugging the RNA life cycle.**

References

Childs-Disney, J. L. et al. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 21, 736–762 (2022).

Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central

Google Scholar
Ratni, H., Scalco, R. S. & Stephan, A. H. ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 12, 874–877 (2021).

Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central

Google Scholar
Bhattacharyya, A. et al. Nat. Commun. 12, 7299 (2021).

Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central

Google Scholar
Rzuczek, S. G. et al. Nat. Chem. Biol. 13, 188–193 (2017).

Article
CAS
PubMed

Google Scholar
Bush, J. A. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2210532119 (2022).

Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central

Google Scholar
Chen, J. L. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142, 8706–8727 (2020).

Article
PubMed
PubMed Central

Google Scholar
Warner, K. D., Hajdin, C. E. & Weeks, K. M. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 17, 547–558 (2018).

Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central

Google Scholar
Zhang, P. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 1457–1467 (2020).

Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central

Google Scholar
Townshend, R. J. L. et al. Science 373, 1047–1051 (2021).

Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central

Google Scholar
Costales, M. G. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 2406–2411 (2020).

Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central

Google Scholar