An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of purification
Anonymous
The dsRNA impurities that arise during current RNA manufacturing approaches are the target RNA, with >50 additional bases added to the end. This region can stimulate our innate immune response.
Purifying 4,000 base target RNA from 4,050 base dsRNA (for example) is very hard. It is costly. It reduces yield. And it is essentially impossible to knock dsRNA down to zero.
dsRNA is generated during the initial synthesis, by the RNA polymerase itself. We understand how/why this happens. And we understand how to prevent it at the outset. Our goal is zero detectable levels of dsRNA, before purification. Our goal is clinical trials that allow the underlying therapeutic to shine!