Ribonucleic acid (RNA) treatment, which was an unexplored field, is receiving a lot of attention from the global pharmaceutical and bio industry. RNA therapy is a method that blocks the expression of a disease-causing gene. Until recently, the task of developing an RNA treatment was how to deliver it into cells because of its large size. However, with the commercialization of the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine as an opportunity, the problem has been resolved and development is accelerating.

Rznomics is developing a treatment for liver cancer. It is a treatment that cuts off target RNA that appears in cancer cells and implants RNA that induces cancer cell death in its place. At end of last year, the company applied for approval of phase 1 and 2a clinical trials with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Rznomics is jointly developing a treatment for intractable diseases using a next-generation RNA platform with GC Biopharma. Celltrion is also developing an mRNA-based anticancer drug with TriLink, an American bio company.

The movement to develop RNA therapeutics is more active overseas than in Korea. News of cooperation, such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and technology transfer for RNA therapeutics market, is following one after another. The announcement of the acquisition of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals by Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is an example.

Novo Nordisk, the world's 16th largest pharmaceutical company, announced in November last year that it would acquire Dicerna, a leading RNA company, for $3.3 billion USD. There are also constant observations that Novartis will acquire Alnylam, which was the first to receive FDA approval for an RNA treatment.

At the recently held JP Morgan Conference, the world's largest bio-investment event, the "RNA trend" was clearly visible. Eli Lilly announced its roadmap to fill 20% of the preclinical pipeline with nucleic acid therapy.

Pfizer and BioNtech, which made a fortune with the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, started developing a shingles virus vaccine. Moderna has started administering to patients in a phase 1 clinical trial of the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) vaccine, which is known to cause cancer. EBV is known to cause lymphoma and gastric cancer by B cells.