RNA Medicines to Treat Muscle Diseases: Sarah Boyce on The Long Run

Today’s guest on The Long Run is Sarah Boyce.

She is the CEO of San Diego-based Avidity Biosciences.

Sarah Boyce, CEO, Avidity Biosciences

Avidity is a developer of RNA medicines. It uses what it calls “antibody oligonucleotide conjugates”. These are molecules that connect an antibody — which hits a specific target on the surface of cells – with an RNA-silencing molecule. That RNA molecule can get inside the cell to shut down disease-related proteins.

The company has been working on this platform technology for years and has found a niche in delivering its therapies to muscle cells – a cell type that’s been traditionally hard to reach with RNA medicines. It has gathered some impressive clinical trial for an initial program for patients with myotonic dystrophy (also known as DM1) and for FSHD, another rare muscle disorder.

Just a couple days after recording this episode, Avidity announced some positive clinical trial data with its drug candidate for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Clearly, the company is hitting a stride with its technology to target muscle diseases, and it’s translating into benefits for patients.

Sarah has been with Avidity since 2019. She came to the CEO job with a background on the commercial and business development side of the biopharma industry, with a lot of experience in rare diseases.

Now, before we get started, a word from the sponsor of The Long Run.

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Now please join me and Sarah Boyce on The Long Run.