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Alnylam Selected as 2009 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum

^{Published on 2008-12-04 09:31:44 - Market Wire}
 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has been selected as a 2009 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. Each year, the World Economic Forum awards companies from a variety of fields who have demonstrated visionary leadership and are involved in the development of a life-changing technology.

"We are honored to have been selected to join this prestigious list of technology innovators," said John Maraganore, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam. "Alnylam is focused on developing novel medicines based on a breakthrough in biology known as RNA interference, or RNAi. The need for meaningful new medicines is greater than ever, and we and many others believe that RNAi represents a transformative technology that has the potential to create a broad new class of therapeutics that will help patients by impacting disease in a fundamentally new way."

The selection of these companies is the result of a vigorous selection process, in which more than 320 applications from around the world were evaluated by 44 global technology experts. So far, the program has identified around 400 companies that have contributed to the Forum's mission of improving the state of the world. Technology Pioneers 2009 are invited to participate in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, from 28 January to 1 February, and in the Annual Meeting of the New Champions that will be held in Dalian, People's Republic of China, in September 2009, and are integrated into the Forum's initiatives.

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. 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, and Kyowa Hakko. 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 is a joint owner of Regulus Therapeutics LLC, a joint venture focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of microRNA therapeutics. Founded in 2002, Alnylam maintains headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, 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, 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.