SBIR involved soonafter its coynding, Dharmacon, Inc. was organized around development and commercialization of a new technology for RNA oligonucleotide synthesis. In 2006, Dharmacon became part of Thermo Fisher Scientific and in March 2014, in a multi-part deal between Thermo Fisher and GE, Dharmacon became part of GE Healthcare Life Sciences. Subsequenlty, in July 2017, Dharmacon was acquired by Horizon Discovery. At the time of its founding, Dharmacon had primarily served research areas with applications requiring high-quality synthetic RNA oligonucleotides. The 2'-ACE chemistry lends itself to high yields and oligo lengths that were difficult, if not impossible, to obtain with other synthesis chemistries. When RNA interference (RNAi) emerged in the late 1990's, Dharmacon seemed poised to provide RNAi-related products to the multitude of academic and industry researchers and the firm became an important resource for those investigating the mechanisms of siRNA (small interfering RNA)-induced gene knockdown rapidly recognized as a leader in siRNA design for potency and specificity. In 2005 Dharmacon founded the RNAi Global Initiative (www.rnaiglobal.org) to advance RNAi screening as a functional genomics tool. With its membership now exceeding 50 leading academic and government research institutions, RNAi Global continues to lead collaborative efforts to drive best-practice and excellence in RNAi -driven discovery.
