Taking the Pharma Lead on RNAi: Merck Bets on Sirna

This Health Industry Insights Perspective describes analyst perspectives on the implications of Merck's recent decision to acquire Sirna Therapeutics Inc. for $1.1 billion. Merck's expansion of its efforts to develop and exploit new therapeutics based on RNA interference (RNAi), a decision made somewhat easier by the awarding of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Andrew Fire and Craig Mello for their work in RNAi, has clearly raised visibility and future expectations for this emerging technological approach.