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Alnylam Receives Milestone Payment from Roche Related to Advancement of RNAi Therapeutics

^{Published on 2010-01-06 21:00:25 - Market Wire}
 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--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"

"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.