Sirna inks deal with Christiano on topical gene suppressor

Controversial & Unproven Methods Restricted: Genetic Therapy, X-Ray, Photodynamic
#1

via Forbes:

http://www.forbes.com/smallbusiness/feeds/ap/2004/12/08/ap1700149.html

Sirna Stock Up on Hair Removal Business
12.08.2004, 02:56 PM

Shares of Sirna Therapeutics Inc. were bumped up 75 cents, or 26 percent, to $3.66 on the Nasdaq Wednesday afternoon following an announcement that the drug company is forming a dermatology division that will focus on hair removal.

Related to this new division, Sirna purchased Skinetics Biosciences Inc., a company formed around the research of Dr. Angela M. Christiano, associate professor of dermatology and genetics at Columbia University. Sirna granted an undisclosed number of initial common stock shares to Skinetics’ shareholders and consultants. Additional milestone payments of shares will be granted, and royalties will be paid upon commercialization.

Sirna Dermatology has found that suppressing a certain hair-growth gene through a topically administered cream permanently stops hair growth in animal studies. The company plans to start human trials in 2006.

The formulations, called siRNA or short interfering RNA, are designed to be applied topically by physicians. Sirna and Skinetics Biosciences have worked together on preclinical studies that show that these siRNAs reach the cells at the base of the hair follicle, where they inhibit the production of proteins necessary for hair growth, resulting in permanent hair removal.

#2

hehe…i think i beat you to it Andrea <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
only caus of the time zones

Cheers

b.

#3

You did indeed beat me on this! Nice spotting!

I moved the discussion here because it will probably be a while until we see human trials, and then it will be a while after that before we see a commercially available product.

Still, this is a cool development!

#4

>>>designed to be applied topically by physicians<<<

I was hoping for a home-use product. Like any new technology, the price will be high, but the physician-only part will further drive the price up.

Points to ponder:

  • Is this something that will require only one treatment?
  • Do the hairs have to be epilated before treatment, otherwise, is the treatment painful?
  • How precisely will it work, can you do eyebrow reshaping with it?
  • How long does an application take?
  • What about application errors? Can the process be reversed? Or is that what malpractice insurance is for? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />
#5

Just answered one of my own questions. It appears that the product is designed to require a series of treatments. This may be preferable in some instances such as cosmetically blending areas where the hair is to be permanently removed with areas where it is not, or to provide for permanent thinning of hair by using less than the optimal number of treatments.

Doesn’t this have the potential to be the first cosmetic use of gene therapy?

#6

I am absolutely amazed that not more has been raised about this thread.

Yes, the product may be a few years away, but especially after listening to the info online, i for one, believe this will be, in all probability, the best treatement and permanent method of removal for the future.

Maybe i am a little optimistic but i have seen every method, product known to man from the age of 15 (now 33) and nothing excites as much as this.

Anyway, that’s my piece for the day…

Cheers

B.

#7

I too think this is great news and I believe this will change the industry forever. I agree with 00beagle, I can’t believe more people are not getting excited about this.

To me the fact that this is a few years out isn’t a big deal, and the fact that a physician has to apply the cream isn’t a big deal, I’m just happy that the future looks promising. Can you imagine removing unsightly body hair without having to get fried by a laser, poked by a needle, cut by a razor blade, or burned by a chemical depilatory?! Man that makes me so happy. I too have tried everything under the sun and nothing has worked, so this is very, very promising.

One question though - and I have asked this before when I first heard about Dr. Christiano a little over a year ago – is there any way we can use this site to show support for this? When I raised the question before only one person responded. I’m hoping more people will get into this, this time around. Does anyone have any thoughts?

S.

#8

>>> Can you imagine removing unsightly body hair without having to get fried by a laser, poked by a needle, cut by a razor blade, or burned by a chemical depilatory?! <<<

I’m sure there are significant hurdles to be overcome. Nothing in the literature has promised that this treatment will not be painful, so I’d wait on that before declaring it to be pain-free. I’m just trying to read between the lines here, because several years ago it looked like laser was the “silver bullet,” but many were disappointed by it (myself included. I am open to the possibility that this could be the real deal, and would even consider joining a clinical trial.

I’m not sure how we can support her work other than to continue talking about it, which is hard to do when there is so little news about it.

#9

HOPE DIES LAST.
Even if all goes well we will see the product not earlier then 2008. Its 3 years! And we dont know if it will work anyway. How much posts like this were before? 10?20?100? Every week I find something like this on the web to get a new hope, and when time comes it appears another “topical cream” which reduces the hair temporarly. If I want to become famous because I do some reasearch, I will tell “There is a hope that this cream will remove hair permanently” and boom, for some time they write about me all over. But when time comes and it all fails, none probably will even remember this as there will be many other people which will use the same trick.
No wonder they trade on the Nasdaq.
…but ofcourse there is a hope.

#10

Artuhr,

or is that supposed to be Arthur?..

I think you are missing a point. Sure there has been many many crackpot topical formulas marketed over the years that were worthless, most of these were / are produced by the rip off merchants peddling for a quick buck, ripping customers of with false hope.

The hope here (SIRNA) really lies in the credentials behind those involved. Maybe it’s just my intuition and maybe the US financial markets allow companies to sprout whatever they like, i can tell you the governing bodies (ASIC) In Australia would frown upon a company making such claims if they were unsubstanitated. And if the claims made to the public are completely false, they could face criminal charges etc, not to mention the detrimental effect on the company as a whole and the effect on all the other product line in which they offer.

My gut feeling and the facts above seem to convinvce me that this story could provide a serious breakthrough for those with such needs as “permanent” hair removal.

Hope you don’t prove me wrong

B.

#11

This word “Permanent” … They all use it.
They did not speak about 100% hair removal (or at least 95%!) because of understandable reasons - like everybody else did before. They did not lie, they just use an anouncement like all the politicians do. Every word has lots of meanings…
If it supposed to be applied by a doctor that means there are side effects, and if there are side effects it is already not the “final solution”… Maybe it will provide a “breakthrough” but i dont think it will be the final solution… That means we must wait more than 2 years…

I think we will have the final solution when they wont use the word “permanent” - that means they are sure about the results. But I have no idea how many years to pass before they will stop using this word.
Ohh and “Vaniqa” is also a “breakthrough”, and still few years later after the “breakthrough” we see no solution…
But I HOPE I am missing the point…
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

#12

Sure, many of the crackpots do claim permanent etc etc, However,it’s just a well known fact that Christiano, a qualified / recognised specialist in this area has been working on such advanced techniques for some time, so i am leaning more toward a possible breakthrough with greater probability with someone like that than some crackpots selling hair removal lotions on tv shopping shows all of a sudden <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Anyway, just had to get my 2 bobs in

00b.

#13

a breakthrough is far away

German researchers found in 2000 already some genes responsible for the suppression of keratine production in mice hair follicels.
Now they admit that the situation is more complicated than originally expected, see article:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query…t_uids=15161094

#14

CRAP!!!

I for one have never been overly optimistic about such developments but this one i feel different by what i have read and the people involved.

enough said, we will wait and see.

#15

Has anyone seen anything resent on this?

#16

They do not seem to add anything to their web site.
It has been the same for about a year.

Sirna Dermatology News

Google News search shows Nov 11th 05 as the last time they made the news.

Google News search on “Sirna Dermatology”

A google news search on siRNA brings up a bit more on the subject

Google News Search on “siRNA”

#17

It’s now 2007… any news on this?

#18

If would be helpful if you could contact Merck and ask them if they are continuing their research on the “hairless gene” since they acquired Sirna recently. Let us know what their response is. Okay? Contact info is:

http://www.merck.com/contact/

Thanks,

Dee