Gene therapy pipeline
What is a gene?
A gene is a unit of genetic information contained in an organism’s genome or DNA, which encodes the instructions for making a protein. Collectively, genes provide information for the organism’s development and characteristics. Humans have about 20,000 genes on their 23 pairs of chromosomes.
What is gene therapy? In monogenic diseases an essential protein isn’t made properly, or insufficient quantities, because of a mutation in a single gene. One therapeutic solution is to deliver a new copy of the defective gene to cells so that they can now make the protein and alleviate symptoms of the disease. This is known as gene therapy.
Status of RHI Product Line (2022)
Delivery of the new gene
A gene encoding a therapeutic protein can be packaged into AAV and delivered to cells in tissues such as the liver, the eye, the brain, or the ear. Once inside the cell, the gene is unpacked from the virus coat, or capsid, and can then enable that cell to make the therapeutic protein. AAV can be manufactured at a large enough scale for use as a human therapeutic.
AAV Viral Vector: Capsid + Gene Cassette = AAV viral vector
