BioCentury
ARTICLE | Tools & Techniques

Restocking in AMD

October 2, 2006 7:00 AM UTC

With sales of its Macugen pegaptanib on the decline due to competition in the wet age-related macular degeneration market, Pfizer Inc. diversified its approach to the disease last week by licensing rights to a preclinical program from Quark Biotech Inc. that may be complementary to anti-VEGF products. RTP-801i is an siRNA candidate that silences RTP-801, a gene discovered by Quark that plays a role in the blood vessel leakage and fluid accumulation symptomatic of AMD.

Using its Biological Integrated Functional Array (BIFAR) high throughput gene profiling technology, Quark discovered that transcription of RTP-801 occurred in response to hypoxia and as a direct result of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) activity. The company used in vitro assays and knockout models to determine that, similar to the HIF-1-dependent gene vascular endothelial growth factor, RTP-801 also plays an important role in wet AMD...