Next Generation RNA Technology Could Unlock Treatments For Chronic Conditions

Even before scientists used modified RNA to create the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines, they dreamed of using the engineered genetic code to revolutionize medical treatments for many other diseases. There’s just one major problem: The body destroys the strands of RNA soon after they are injected.

That’s fine for use in vaccines that aim to elicit an immune response, but it’s impractical for chronic diseases such as diabetes or hemophilia, which require proteins to be supplied to the body for the long term.

“I would have to administer RNA very frequently for you to have a level of that protein you need consistently in perpetuity,” said Dr. Diego Miralles, the CEO of a new Cambridge biotech company, Laronde, where scientists are working on this problem.

Currently, RNA remains unusable for chronic treatments because patients would have to return to clinics repeatedly for new injections. But Miralles and others at Laronde think they’re closing in on a technique that would harness the power of RNA for weeks or months at a time. They call the new technology “endless” RNA or “eRNA.”

Read the rest of the story at WBUR’s website.