Benitec: ddRNAi powerhouse, Australian economy and proximity to China.
Benitec probably best symbolizes the shift in RNAi Therapeutics towards the countries with most economic growth. While its commercial focus may still be with the traditional markets for innovative medicines (US, Europe, Japan), its research activity, once in the US, has shifted to the East as illustrated by its collaboration with Biomics on HBV. This collaboration both taps into the geographic proximity with China as well as the growing scientific expertise that can be paid for with the strong Aussie dollar.
Don??t be surprised if the leading RNAi Therapeutics candidate for scarless wound healing will be developed in China (Sirnaomics), and not by RXi in the US, or if the first RNAi agent with human use will be marketed in the Far East and not the US or Europe just as it happened in gene therapy. Some of it may be explained by less stringent standards of patient protection in these countries, but it would be a mistake of complacency to use this as the only explanation.
Whether it will be Biomics, Sirnaomics, BMT, or others remains to be seen, but the flow of investment dollars firmly points towards a global shift in RNAi Therapeutics development and commercialization. Smart minds and outstanding technologies are one part of the equation, financial backers with deep pockets the other.
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