ARTICLES BY ANNA ROSE WELCH

• What Oligo Manufacturing Risks Are We Underestimating?

  9/8/2026

  Earlier this year, I attended the OPT Congress, where I had the great fortune of meeting consultant Marc Lemaitre. I recently sat down with Lemaitre for a follow-up interview to gauge some of the evolutions he’s been watching within the CMC landscape for oligo development. Here, he digs into the shifts in quality he’s noted, pointing out some of the potential pitfalls we may encounter in our manufacturing that could stand to impact the overall quality of our oligos. 

• What Baby KJ Taught Us About Patient & Physician Communication

  9/1/2026

  Over the past few weeks, I’ve been sharing my takeaways from the overall event, as well as from a specific panel featuring JHU’s Jeff Coller, CHOP’s Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas, and Plowshare Therapies’ Kevin Strauss. Together, these three discussed the biggest learnings and takeaways from the miraculous Baby KJ experience that we very much hope to replicate in the future. As you can likely imagine, patient and physician communication played a large role in the discussion at hand. 

• What Baby KJ Taught Us About mRNA COGS

  8/25/2026

  Here, in part 2 of this three-part series, I share a few details that came to light about the COGS behind Baby KJ’s therapy production. Obviously, we know why it’s important to keep these figures in mind as we move forward; but I particularly liked Strauss’ reminder that it’s our job to “think systematically about how we’re going to create a safety net of sustainable, accessible product that can be widely distributed at an affordable cost.”

• What Baby KJ Taught Us About Sustainable mRNA Development

  8/18/2026

  Of course, these conversations are rarely simple, and the learnings are multifaceted. In the following three-part series, I’ll share my 3 biggest takeaways from the discussion between Coller, Ahrens-Nicklas, and Strauss. Here in part 1, I’ll start by parsing out the learnings about drug development we can take away from the overall heroic efforts to dose Baby KJ. 

• From Baby KJ To Global Access: The 3 Pillars Of Next-Gen mRNA Expansion

  8/8/2026

  Obviously, the transition from RNA vaccines to therapeutics is an “expansion” all on its own; but to do this successfully, we need to expand our science, our products’ deliverability, and our patient access. In the following article, I highlight a few of the best practices and/or innovations that came up in conversation during this event that will play a significant role in helping us expand mRNA’s reach, both scientifically and therapeutically.

• 5 Critical Regulatory Topics To Watch In The Oligo Sector

  7/16/2026

  Though our guidances have helped us achieve upwards of 20 commercially approved oligo products, as I listened to GSK’s director of CMC policy and advocacy, Katie Duncan, present at TIDES, it struck me just how far we have yet to come. Here, I single out a few of the biggest topics of regulatory discussion shaping the oligo therapeutics market.

• Can Oligonucleotide Regulations Keep Up With Manufacturing Innovation?

  7/1/2026

  Here in part 2 of my TIDES takeaways, I’ll unpack which guidances we have at our disposal today in the oligo world, and what we can expect in the future. 

• Stay "Stereocurious": What The Future Holds For Oligo Quality

  6/22/2026

  Overall, there were two areas of discussion at TIDES that demonstrate the amount of growth we have yet to do as a space — particularly in the realms of regulatory development and quality. As I intend to showcase here in part 1 of this muti-part article, this year’s TIDES was a great reflection of the tension(s) that can arise as we realize how much space exists between where we are and where we’re going next. 

• Targeting The Uncharted Heart: Why The Next Era Of siRNA Belongs In Cardiology

  6/15/2026

  During our conversation, Gallagher walked me through what’s keeping her up at night as she leads the company and its first siRNA candidate toward an IND, elaborating on the role RNA can play in cardiomyopathies and identifying the unique challenges of developing RNA medicines today.

• Following The Data To The Heart: Atrium's Quest For Next-Gen Targeted RNA Delivery

  6/8/2026

  In this two-part series, Gallagher shares more about her goals for Atrium following its spin-out from Novartis, articulating what it looks like and means to “pave a path” to greater patient access in rare cardiomyopathies. Here in part one, we start with a look into the formation of Atrium, sharing the “why” behind the company’s formation and what’s next for the company’s targeted delivery platform.