Book excerpt: The sequencing of the human genome and subsequent elucidation of the molecular pathways that are important in the pathology of disease have provided unprecedented opportunities for the development of new therapeutics. Nucleic acid-based drugs have emerged in recent years to yield extremely promising candidates for drug therapy to a wide range of diseases. Advances in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics is a comprehensive review of the latest advances in the field, covering the background of the development of nucleic acids for therapeutic purposes to the array of drug development approaches currently being pursued using antisense, RNAi, aptamer, immune modulatory and other synthetic oligonucleotides. Nucleic acid therapeutics is a field that has been continually innovating to meet the challenges of drug discovery and development; bringing contributions together from leaders at the forefront of progress, this book depicts the many approaches currently being pursued in both academia and industry. A go-to volume for medicinal chemists, Advances in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics provides a broad overview of techniques of contemporary interest in drug discovery.