Perspectives on Current Science

The chief scientific officer of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Dr. C. Frank Bennett, is not someone who comes to work just to do science, but to help his patients. Although he started with little knowledge of antisense drugs when he joined the company more than thirty ...

It’s the middle of winter and, at some point during this season, many people will experience a constellation of symptoms that may include coughing, a sore throat, runny nose, headache, body aches, fevers, and fatigue. Most adults would assume they have a cold or ...

When The Medicines Company licensed inclisiran, they envisioned a drug for the masses that would save the healthcare system money and be reasonably priced for patients. Despite the company having little experience in the oligonucleotide therapeutics field, it went all in on the drug, selling ...

Twenty years ago, a group of scientists intent on developing a new class of medicine using RNAi technology came together and formed Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a name symbolizing their passion for discovery. The bright center star of Orion's belt, Alnilam, has long been used as a ...

Ever since it was discovered that CRISPR could be used for genome editing, scientists across the world have been working on creating safe, effective ways to use this incredible tool to cure many different human diseases. From the first CRISPR-Cas system that works as ...

In 2020, there were an estimated 18.1 million cases of cancer worldwide (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer). Breast, lung, and colorectal cancer were the most common and together contributed to 35.4% of these cases. In the same year, 9.5 million cancer-related deaths were reported. According to ...

Throughout the millennia, anyone who had anything beyond a simple illness could only do their best to ease the pain and petition whatever deities their culture believed in. Then, in the past few centuries, medicine and science have advanced to the point that many ...

In 2018, Susan Dillon and Karyn O'Neil knew they had created something special that could change the treatment of genetic diseases. Now, their company’s drug that uses their proprietary technology has been granted orphan drug status by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA). ...

Footnote from title: modified slightly from “A brief history of oligonucleotide therapeutics” in the Timmerman Report, copyright 2022, and reprinted with permission. A Brief History of Oligonucleotide Therapeutics About 50 years ago, several scientists independently conceived of the idea of blocking gene expression with ...

We truly enjoyed meeting in person again this year and hope those of you who were able to attend enjoyed it as well. We want to share interesting highlights from a few of the sessions. If you missed a talk or want to go ...