Singapore, March 10, 2008: The Global RNAi market is projected to grow at 25.6% compounded annually from 2005 to 2012. United States maintains its lead throughout. US and Europe are fore runners in RNAi based therapeutics. Asia-Pacific and Rest of World rank high in terms of CAGR, according to the Market Insight Report on RNAi from Research and Markets.    

 

The report says, Ambion, Dharmacon, Invitrogen and Qiagen continue to dominate the market for RNAi products. However their positions vary across market segments and geographic regions. Ambion, Invitrogen and Qiagen products are used equally in academia and industry, while Dharmacon is cited as a supplier far more frequently by industrial researchers than by academic researchers.

 

Numerous companies have sprung up capitalizing on the RNAi phenomenon. Pharma and biotech companies are looking at RNAi as a key drug discovery tool. RNAi compounds are expected to hit the market at least 5 years away. Clinical trials are underway and post efficacy in animals, huge investments are likely to trigger the RNAi market.

 

Collaborations, mergers, alliances, and licenses are expected to occur in a huge manner. In the coming years, market shares of the companies in RNAi products will majorly be driven by innovations in delivery tools, monitoring and optimizing aids, as a survey reveals dissatisfaction in these areas largely, while improvisations in design/software, synthesis and library tools will be an added advantage and give a better edge.

 

RNA interference, a term coined by Dr Andy Fire and Dr Craig Mello for their discovery which won them a Nobel Prize in 2006, is abbreviated as RNAi. It stands for the regulation mechanism of gene expression by RNA in living organisms. Dr Andy Fire and Dr Craig Mello worked on Ceonorhabditis elegans. RNAi is induced by miRNA/siRNA. These molecules, in association with RNA induced silencing complexes (RISC), bind to target mRNA and degrade it. There are other proteins involved in the accomplishment of this mechanism, which may differ in different organisms.

 

Prior to characterization, RNAi was known by other names such as gene silencing and post transcriptional transgene. It was only after the characterization at the molecular level it was recognized as the same phenomenon.