Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), a leading RNAi
therapeutics company, announced today that it has received a milestone
payment from its partner Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) related to
initiation of pre-IND (investigational new drug application) studies for
an RNAi therapeutics product candidate. Financial terms of the milestone
were not disclosed.
"We are excited by the progress our partner Roche is making in
developing their own portfolio of RNAi therapeutics based on Alnylam
technology and intellectual property,” said Barry Greene, President and
Chief Operating Officer of Alnylam. "Since the start of our
collaboration with Roche in 2007, we have been impressed with the high
quality of their work and the rapid progress they have made in advancing
this novel class of innovative medicines to patients. We look forward to
continued success in their efforts.”
In July 2007, Alnylam granted to Roche a non-exclusive license providing
access to broad Alnylam intellectual property (IP) and know-how,
including fundamental, chemistry and delivery IP, in the fields of
oncology, respiratory disease, metabolic disease, and certain liver
diseases. As part of the agreement, Roche also acquired Alnylam’s
Kulmbach-based research & development (R&D) organization which has now
become Roche Kulmbach, a Roche Centre of Excellence for RNA
therapeutics. In addition, Alnylam and Roche agreed to collaborate on
RNAi therapeutics drug discovery for a defined number of disease
targets, subject to certain Alnylam third party obligations. The drug
discovery stage of the collaboration was initiated in November 2009.
About RNA Interference (RNAi)
RNAi (RNA interference) is a revolution in biology, representing a
breakthrough in understanding how genes are turned on and off in cells,
and a completely new approach to drug discovery and development. Its
discovery has been heralded as "a major scientific breakthrough that
happens once every decade or so,” and represents one of the most
promising and rapidly advancing frontiers in biology and drug discovery
today which was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
RNAi is a natural process of gene silencing that occurs in organisms
ranging from plants to mammals. By harnessing the natural biological
process of RNAi occurring in our cells, the creation of a major new
class of medicines, known as RNAi therapeutics, is on the horizon. RNAi
therapeutics target the cause of diseases by potently silencing specific
messenger RNAs (mRNAs), thereby preventing disease-causing proteins from
being made. RNAi therapeutics have the potential to treat disease and
help patients in a fundamentally new way.
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 and is partnered with Cubist and Kyowa Hakko Kirin. In
addition, the company is developing RNAi therapeutics for the treatment
of a wide range of disease areas, including liver cancers,
hypercholesterolemia, Huntington’s disease, and TTR amyloidosis. 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. To reflect its outlook for key
scientific, clinical, and business initiatives, Alnylam established "RNAi
2010” in January 2008 which includes the company’s plan to
significantly expand the scope of delivery solutions for RNAi
therapeutics, have four or more programs in clinical development, and to
form four or more new major business collaborations, all by the end of
2010. 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 the potential to receive
future milestones and royalties from licensees, including Roche, as well
as those risks more fully discussed in the "Risk Factors” section of its
most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q 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.
