By Christopher P. Singer —

In a December 14, 2006 press release, Mirus Bio
Corporation announced that U.S. Patent No. 7,148,205, titled "Intravascular
Delivery of Non-Viral Nucleic Acid" has been granted by the U.S. Patent
Office.  According to Mirus Bio, the
patent covers a technology for the administration of molecules that can induce
RNA interference (RNAi), called hydrodynamic intravascular injection.  This technique increases the permeability of
blood vessels in a tissue by increasing the intravascular hydrostatic pressure
through a rapid, large volume injection.  The effective and safe delivery of nucleic acid based therapeutics has
been a major hurdle to the realization of that technology.

The '205 patent claims priority through a series of
divisional, continuation-in-part, and continuation applications back to
December 13, 1995.  In brief, the patent
claims relate to a process for delivering naked non-expressed double strand RNA
to a mammal.  Representative independent
Claim 1 recites:

1.  A process for
delivering a naked non-expressed double strand RNA to an extravascular cell of
a mammal, comprising: a) injecting the naked non-expressed double strand RNA
into a blood vessel lumen, in vivo; b) increasing the propensity for
macromolecules to move through vessel walls and enter the extravascular space;
and, c) delivering the naked non-expressed double strand RNA to the
extravascular cell outside of the blood vessel.

More information regarding this technology and Mirus Bio
Corporation can be found here.