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Washington, DC
June 24, 2003
News release from the office
of Queensland's Premier Peter Beattie
Premier Peter Beattie has
congratulated another Queensland company for taking a global
lead and making a biotechnology breakthrough which may help
combat cancer, AIDS and Hepatitis C.
Speaking at BIO2003, the world's
biggest biotech conference and exhibition in Washington, Mr
Beattie said Brisbane-based
Benitec Ltd.was set to take on the world after securing
patents in the US and UK for its gene technology.
"Benitec's technology works by
'shutting off', or silencing, genes in any organism - humans,
animals (including pests,) and plants," Mr Beattie said.
"This technology has the
potential to be used in people to shut off the rogue genes that
cause diseases and viruses like AIDS, Hepatitis C and cancer.
"I'm delighted that Benitec has
locked in patents in the US and UK to use this technology in
humans and animals for a range of research applications and drug
development.
"These are huge global markets,
and open up big opportunities for this Smart State Company in
terms of global partnerships and revenues."
Innovation Minister Paul Lucas
also congratulated Benitec on its success.
"This research was done in the
Department of Primary Industries' agri-biotechnology centre in
Brisbane," Mr Lucas said.
"The Queensland Government is a
joint owner of the core technology, while Benitec has exclusive
worldwide rights of commercialisation.
"This is an example of successful
partnerships between public and private entities taking leading
research through to its commercial potential.
"This is the kind of result we're seeking to encourage with our
Smart State strategy for Queensland."
Executive chairman of Benitec,
John McKinley, said he believed the company's technology was the
most important of its kind to be developed in biotech in the
past decade.
"This technology has enormous
potential in humans," Mr McKinley said.
"With these patents, we can
explore the use of this technology in a range of applications.
"Initially we are concentrating
on research in the human field, working with partners in
Australia and the USA to demonstrate the technology's effect in
silencing or shutting off the genes that cause diseases such as
cancers, diabetes, psoriasis, HIV, AIDS, hepatitis C and
Alzheimer's disease.
"Our technology also has
potential for use against major Third World parasitic diseases,
including malaria, as well as global animal diseases such as and
Foot and Mouth and BSE."
News release from Benitec Ltd.
Queensland, Australia
June 5th 2003
Benitec
granted first US and UK patents for DNA directed gene silencing
- Patents underscore Benitec’s leading RNAi position
Benitec Ltd. (ASX: BLT), the
first company to demonstrate RNA interference (RNAi) in human
cells, announced today the grant of its core technology patents
in the United States and the United Kingdom. These patents, with
priority dating to1998, describe a revolutionary method for
silencing any gene in any cell using DNA directed RNA
interference (ddRNAi). U.S. Patent 6,573,099 is entitled
"Genetic constructs for delaying or repressing the expression of
a target gene" and U.K. Patent 2353282 is entitled "Control of
gene expression". Both patents contain world first claims that
describe the effect of RNAi in human cells and the DNA
constructs which trigger RNAi. The patents were jointly granted
to Benitec and The State of Queensland, Australia and Benitec
holds exclusive worldwide rights to both patents under a
partnership agreement with The State of Queensland.
"These broad patents confirm
Benitec as a pioneer in the effective application of RNAi to
humans and the leader in ddRNAi technology," stated John
McKinley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Benitec, Ltd.
"We will now leverage our dominant IP position to secure further
commercialization opportunities, add to our licensing partners
and expand our efforts to develop ddRNAi targets for drug
development."
"RNAi is the simplest and most
precise method of gene silencing and ddRNAi is the most
versatile method of triggering RNAi in human cells," stated Ken
Reed, Director of Research & Technology with Benitec. "In
contrast to RNAi induction using double-stranded RNA, ddRNAi
does not provoke the natural interferon response in cells.
Critical to the biopharma industry, ddRNAi can also manipulate
gene silencing for either transient or permanent effect, and can
be used to reduce gene expression or silence it completely. It
also has more versatility with respect to delivery vehicles,
further increasing options for development of therapeutics. As a
bonus, manufacturing costs are significantly less."
ABOUT ddRNAi
DNA directed RNAi (ddRNAi) is a
method to trigger the natural gene suppression process called
RNAi that operates by destroying messenger RNA (mRNA), the
courier that delivers instructions to the ribosomes within the
cell to manufacture the proteins coded for by DNA. By
introducing a DNA construct into a cell, Benitec’s ddRNAi
technology triggers the production of double stranded (dsRNA),
which is then cleaved into small interfering RNA (siRNA) as part
of the RNAi process, resulting in the destruction of the target
mRNA and knocking-down or silencing the expression of the target
gene.
An alternate approach to
triggering RNAi currently under development uses siRNA to
directly induce the RNAi process. While both approaches trigger
RNAi, Benitec’s ddRNAi approach does not activate the cell’s
interferon (stress) response. The interferon response is a
natural cellular defense mechanism that responds to
double-stranded RNA, as in a virus, by shutting down many normal
functions.
Benitec’s ddRNAi provides the
ability to control the silencing effect so that it either knocks
down or completely silences the target gene. Control can also be
exerted to make the silencing effect transient or permanent.
siRNA technologies under development are only capable of
transient silencing and are to an extent dependent on how much
can enter a cell.
ddRNAi can also be used with a
range of efficient delivery options not available to the siRNA
approach, providing additional versatility for therapeutics
development. These qualities also make ddRNAi well suited to
high throughput functional genomics and target validation, and
provide added versatility when developing RNAi targets for drug
development.
Benitec Limited, based in
Queensland, Australia, is the leader in the field of gene
silencing technology based on DNA directed RNA interference
(ddRNAi). Benitec pioneered ddRNAi and was the first company to
demonstrate RNAi in human cells. With granted patents in the
United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and
Singapore, and patent applications pending in Europe, Japan, and
12 other jurisdictions covering its ddRNAi technology, Benitec
holds a dominant international intellectual property position.
Benitec has embarked on an aggressive strategy to leverage its
leadership position and license its technology along the entire
chain of the drug discovery and development process, and is
applying the technology to develop its own ddRNAi targets for
drug development. As previously announced on 8th
April, Benitec has granted Promega Corporation (Madison, WI) its
first worldwide exclusive license (with rights to sub-license)
to develop, sell and distribute ddRNAi products based upon
Benitec’s proprietary technology.
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