Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), a leading RNAi
therapeutics company, today announced that it has earned a $20 million
technology transfer payment from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited
as part of the strategic alliance the companies formed in May 2008. This
payment is related to the achievement of certain pre-defined objectives
in the transfer of Alnylam’s platform technology, including documents,
materials, and know-how, to Takeda for the development of RNAi
therapeutics. Alnylam has previously received $120 million in upfront
and technology transfer payments from Takeda. In addition to this
current $20 million payment, Alnylam is eligible to receive an
additional $10 million in near-term technology transfer payments.
Alnylam is also eligible to receive significant milestones and royalties
related to the Takeda’s advancement of RNAi therapeutic products, and
has retained certain product opt-in rights in the U.S. market.
"We are very pleased with the continued progress we have made in our
enablement of Takeda with Alnylam’s RNAi therapeutics platform
technology and intellectual property,” said Barry Greene, President and
Chief Operating Officer of Alnylam. "Our partnership with Takeda has
been extremely productive, and we look forward to our continued work
with them in developing RNAi therapeutics on a global basis, which
includes Alnylam’s opt-in right to co-develop and co-commercialize
certain Takeda RNAi therapeutic products in the U.S. market.”
"We are excited by the completion of this stage in our technology
transfer with Alnylam, which provides Takeda with a world-class
foundation for RNAi drug discovery,” said Shigenori Ohkawa, Executive
Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Takeda. "We are
encouraged by the progress we have made to date, and look forward to
advancing this important innovation to patients.”
The Alnylam-Takeda alliance, which is valued at potentially over $1
billion, represents the industry’s first and most significant RNAi
therapeutics partnership between a Japan-based global pharmaceutical
company and a U.S. biotechnology company. The agreement provides Takeda
with broad, worldwide, non-exclusive access to and enablement with
Alnylam’s RNAi therapeutics platform technology and intellectual
property in the fields of oncology and metabolic disease, with the right
to expand the number of therapeutic fields in the future. In addition,
it includes a collaboration and cross-license of delivery technologies
between the two companies, and a drug discovery collaboration on certain
RNAi targets. Alnylam also has the right to opt-in and co-develop and
co-commercialize Takeda RNAi therapeutic programs in the U.S. market on
a 50-50 basis; the opt-in right can be exercised up until the start of
Phase III clinical trials.
About Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Alnylam is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics
based on RNA interference, or RNAi. The company is applying its
therapeutic expertise in RNAi to address significant medical needs, many
of which cannot effectively be addressed with small molecules or
antibodies, the current major classes of drugs. Alnylam is leading the
translation of RNAi as a new class of innovative medicines with
peer-reviewed research efforts published in the world’s top scientific
journals including Nature, Nature Medicine, and Cell.
The company is leveraging these capabilities to build a broad pipeline
of RNAi therapeutics; its most advanced program is in Phase II human
clinical trials for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
infection. In addition, the company is developing RNAi therapeutics for
the treatment of a wide range of disease areas, including liver cancers,
TTR-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR), hypercholesterolemia, and Huntington’s
disease. The company’s leadership position in fundamental patents,
technology, and know-how relating to RNAi has enabled it to form major
alliances with leading companies including Medtronic, Novartis, Biogen
Idec, Roche, Takeda, Kyowa Hakko Kirin, and Cubist. Alnylam and Isis are
joint owners of Regulus Therapeutics Inc., a company focused on the
discovery, development, and commercialization of microRNA-based
therapeutics. Founded in 2002, Alnylam maintains headquarters in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit www.alnylam.com.
Alnylam Forward-Looking Statement
Various statements in this release concerning Alnylam’s future
expectations, plans and prospects, constitute forward-looking statements
for the purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ
materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a
result of various important factors, including risks related to the
likelihood of Alnylam successfully achieving additional milestones,
including technology transfer milestones, under its agreement with
Takeda, as well as those risks more fully discussed in the "Risk
Factors” section of its most recent annual report on Form 10-K on file
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any
forward-looking statements represent Alnylam’s views only as of today
and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any
subsequent date. Alnylam does not assume any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
