Antisense technology is a novel drug discovery method. Antisense drugs work at the genetic level to interrupt the process by which disease-causing proteins are produced.
Proteins play a central role in virtually every aspect of human metabolism.
Traditional drugs are designed to interact with protein molecules throughout the body that support or cause diseases. Antisense drugs are designed to inhibit the production of disease-causing proteins. They can be designed to treat a wide range of diseases including infectious, inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases and cancer and have the potential to be more selective and, as a result, more effective and less toxic than traditional drugs. The information necessary to produce proteins in cells is contained in genes. Specific genes contain information to produce specific proteins.