The distribution of diseases associated with RNA medicine in publications and patents Since the first approved ASO RNA therapeutic in 1998, the research and development of RNA in medical applications have increased. We analyzed data from the CAS Content Collection for journal publications and patents on RNAs as therapeutics, vaccines, or diagnostic agents for diseases and found that 50% of the publications are associated with cancer diagnosis or treatment, although lung, liver, and metabolic diseases are also highly represented (Figure ). There was little correlation between the type of RNA and a targeted disease, indicating that different types of RNA have been explored for many kinds of diseases in the research phase (Supplement Figure ). Infectious diseases and cancer have shown the greatest growth and are the most frequent diseases treated by RNA, followed by eye and cardiovascular diseases, which grew in the first decade of this century and remained relatively stable in the second decade (Figure ). Specifically, the association of RNA medicine with pancreatic neoplasm, melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, hepatitis B, and influenza has increased quickly in the past 20 years. Patent publications for RNA therapeutics for hepatitis C have decreased in recent years, most likely due to the approval of several effective small molecule drugs for hepatitis C. RNA therapeutics for atherosclerosis, hypertension, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration research have remained relatively stable. The top 20 patent assignees for patent publications on RNA therapeutics, vaccines, or diagnostics are mostly in the US or China, although a few are in Germany, Korea, Japan, Switzerland, or Israel (Figure ).