Sirna set for major expansion - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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Alan Sachs, who has led since Mercm bought itin 2001, is charged with leadinvg the integration of Sirnq with Merck and pursuing a more aggressiv e plan for growth than expected when Sirna was an independengt company. He replaces Howarsd Robin, who left following the completion of the acquisition and now head sSan Carlos-based . The companh just signed a lease for an additional floord in the Alexandria Center for Life Scienced at 1700Owens St. in Missiojn Bay. The deal doubles Sirna's footprint in the building toaboutt 66,000 square feet. It expects to begin moving into the building in the fourt quarter when the space isbuilyt out.
"The head countg is going to be increasing pretty said Sachs, who carries the titles of vice president of molecular profiling and RNA He declined, however to offer projections on which today stands at around 90 peopld in San Francisco and Colo. Sirna, acquired by Merck at the end of last yearfor $1.1 is developing a new class of drugs that uses RNA interferencw or RNAi technology. RNAi is a selective process for turning off RNAi is triggeredby so-called shoryt interfering RNA or siRNAs. drugs work by binding with proteins that are the underlyinfg cause of aspecific disease. Sirna's technology, by contrast, prevents the production of theharmful protein.
Merckl had already been working in the area of RNAi throug its collaborationwith , a deal that placezs it at the forefront of a breakthrough technology that has the potentia for changing the way a wide range of diseasese are treated. It complements Merck's acquisition of Rosetta Inpharmatics, which provided the company with toold to analyzegene expression. Sirna is continuing to work on its collaborationh with Allergen to develop siRNsA therapeutics for eye disease and with for respiratory But Sachs is now leading a push withimn Merck to bring the technologhy to groups working in a wide variettof areas, including cancer, infectious disease and metabolic "My job is to now make availablw to Merck scientists all the opportunities Sirnz brings to Merck, which is about a new type of said Sachs.
Sachs said challenges remainh with developing methods to targetf and deliver siRNA therapeutics becausew cells do not naturally take up these but that Merck is makinga "major investment" in solving that problem. For who continues to have a roleoverseeing Rosetta, the expandedf responsibilities don't quite represent relocation. An M.D. and from and one-time professor at the , Sachs has commuted to Seattle from his home in Orindaz for more thanfive years. He vows he won'tg complain about traffic during his drives over the Bay Bridge toMission Bay.