title: Cequent Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: the biological pitcher for RNAi therapeutics.
abstract: Cequent Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a recently established biopharmaceutical company that aims to develop clinically compatible therapies based on RNAi, a potent gene-silencing mechanism discovered in 1998. The company's proprietary technology, transkingdom RNAi (tkRNAi), uses nonpathogenic bacteria to produce and deliver shRNA into target cells to induce RNAi. Our initial focus is on the development of a tkRNAi-based therapy for familial adenatomous polyposis, an inherited form of colon cancer. Cequent's first tkRNAi-based drug for familial adenatomous polyposis, CEQ501, is currently in advanced preclinical testing. As part of its ongoing activities, Cequent plans to develop additional tkRNAi-based products for indications within and outside the GI tract. Our overall goal is to establish tkRNAi as a platform for developing a wide range of RNAi-based therapies.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Skip Ackerman Center for Molecular Therapeutics, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Keates
authors.forename: Johannes H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Fruehauf
authors.forename: Shuanglin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: Chiang J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D011125:Adenomatous Polyposis Coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy; D001900:Boston; D004345:Drug Industry; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D034622:RNA Interference