RXi, UMMS get ALS research funding

Three philanthropic organizations dedicated to finding a treatment for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, have financed a new collaboration between RXi Pharmaceuticals and University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS). The partners are studying RXi's self-delivering rxRNA compounds as a potential treatment for the disease.

The Angel Fund, The ALS Therapy Alliance and Project ALS granted funds to the project through which RXi will provide its next generation RNAi technology and materials to university researchers. These researchers will investigate the level of gene silencing and extended survival in a mouse model of familial ALS in which a human mutated version of the SOD1 gene is over-expressed.

"We have been searching for an RNAi treatment for ALS for many years and while this approach is very promising, the limiting factor critical to an effective therapeutic has been delivery," Robert Brown, chair of the department of neurology at UMMS, says in a statement. "I am impressed with RXi's RNAi platform and believe that RXi's sd-rxRNAs are the unique solution that could be the key to treating neurological disorders such as ALS."

The amount of funding RXi and Brown received was not disclosed, Mass High Tech reports.

- read the RXi release
- check out the Mass High Tech coverage

Related Articles:
Helicos will help turn 'junk' into RNAi treasure
Scientists tout promising results from new ALS animal study