Turning Antisense into Therapeutics

Antisense is a fascinating concept for treating a wide variety of diseases. It prevents the formation of disease-triggering proteins, which is a profound contrast to conventional drugs that have to fight against the activity of these proteins.

How does antisense work? DNA carries the genetic information of life in cells. This information is transcribed into RNA, which acts as a “blue print” for the production of proteins, no matter if the genetic information is human, herbal, bacterial or viral. By binding to the messenger RNA (mRNA), antisense drugs block “DNA’s” genetic information from transforming into disease triggering proteins. 

Antisense can be used to combat a vast number of diseases like viral infections, cancer or inflammations and has the potential to be a new magic bullet. However in practice, so far none of the existing antisense concepts provide sufficient uptake into living cells. Delivery is the last obstacle of turning antisense into therapeutics up to now. ugichem´s new generation of antisense drugs, the CMCOs (Cell Membrane Crossing Oligomers) are unique among all competing antisense concepts because they penetrate into cells without needing any additional help.

In summary, ugichem´s CMCOs are superior to all other antisense concepts because they combine all properties in one molecule that are necessary for a successful antisense or antigenomic therapeutic.

*      CMCOs penetrate into cells without additional help
*     CMCOs are highly mobile inside the cells
*      CMCOs have a high  water solubility
*      CMCOs have a low toxicity
*      CMCOs are stable against enzymatic degradation
*      CMCOs bind with a high specifity