Alnylam and
CRT Report Grant of Fundamental RNAi Patent by the European
Patent Office
June
16, 2005 - Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY),
a leading RNAi therapeutics company, and Cancer Research
Technology Limited ("CRT") announced today that
notice of grant has been received from the European Patent
Office ("EPO") for an important new RNAi patent
entitled "Inhibiting gene expression with double-stranded
RNA" to which Alnylam has exclusive therapeutic rights,
through its existing license agreement with CRT. The newly
granted patent includes broad claims covering therapeutic
use of double-stranded RNA expressed from endogenous templates
or expression vectors to mediate RNA interference (RNAi).
This is the first of multiple European patents expected
to stem from the RNAi patent application filed by CRT based
on the pioneering work of Dr. Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz and
colleagues Dr. Florence Wianny, Professor David Glover and
Professor Martin Evans at the University of Cambridge, England.
Patents based on this application have previously been issued
by the Registry of Patents in Singapore (number 89569) and
by the Australian Patent Office (AU774285). Alnylam holds
worldwide exclusive therapeutic rights to this CRT patent
under its 2003 license agreement with CRT.
"The
pioneering RNAi research performed by Dr. Zernicka-Goetz
and colleagues provided one of the earliest demonstrations
of RNAi-mediated inhibition of endogenous genes in mammalian
cells," said John Maraganore, Ph.D., President and
Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. "This
is the first grant from the CRT patent estate in Europe
and further extends the far-reaching position Alnylam has
established in intellectual property required for the development
and commercialization of RNAi therapeutics."
The
new CRT patent is the third key RNAi patent granted by the
EPO within the broad portfolio of RNAi intellectual property
held by Alnylam. In May 2005, the EPO granted a new patent
to Alnylam in the "Kreutzer-Limmer" patent family,
with broad claims covering therapeutic compositions, methods,
and uses of short interfering RNAs, the molecules that mediate
RNAi, and derivatives with a length between 15 and 49 nucleotides.
This was the second patent granted by the EPO in the Kreutzer-Limmer
family, and significantly extended the scope of the original
Kreutzer-Limmer patent granted in 2002.
About
RNA Interference (RNAi)
RNA
interference, or RNAi, is a naturally occurring mechanism
within cells for selectively silencing and regulating specific
genes. Since many diseases are caused by the inappropriate
activity of specific genes, the ability to silence and regulate
such genes selectively through RNAi could provide a means
to treat a wide range of human diseases. The discovery of
RNAi has been heralded by many as a major breakthrough,
and the journal Science named RNAi the top scientific achievement
of 2002, as well as one of the top 10 scientific advances
of 2003.
About
Alnylam
Alnylam
is a biopharmaceutical company seeking to develop and commercialize
novel therapeutics based on RNA interference, or RNAi. Growing
from its foundation as the world's first company focused
on RNAi therapeutics, the company's leadership in the field
of RNAi is supported by its preeminent founders and advisors
and its strengths in fundamental patents, technology, and
know-how that underlie the commercialization of RNAi therapeutics.
Alnylam is developing a pipeline of RNAi products using
Direct RNAi(TM) to treat ocular, central nervous system,
and respiratory diseases and Systemic RNAi(TM) to treat
a broad range of diseases, including oncology, metabolic,
and autoimmune diseases. The company's global headquarters
are in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For additional information,
please visit www.alnylam.com.
About
Cancer Research Technology Limited
Cancer
Research Technology Limited (CRT) is the leading oncology
focused technology transfer and development company, which
aims to maximise cancer patient benefit. CRT works closely
with leading international cancer scientists and their institutes
to protect intellectual property arising from their research
and to establish links with commercial partners. CRT facilitates
the discovery, development and marketing of new cancer therapeutics,
vaccines, diagnostics and enabling technologies. CRT is
wholly owned by Cancer Research UK, the largest independent
funder of cancer research in the world. Further information
about CRT can be found at www.cancertechnology.com.
Cancer
Research UK is Europe's leading cancer charity, dedicated
to research into the causes, prevention and treatment of
cancer. The charity supports the work of 3,000 scientists,
doctors and nurses in over 80 academic centers across the
UK, with an annual scientific spend of more than GBP 213
million. Further information about Cancer Research UK can
be found at www.cancerresearchuk.org.
Alnylam
Forward-Looking Statements
Various
statements in this release concerning our future expectations,
plans, prospects and future operating results 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: our approach to discover and develop novel drugs,
which is unproven and may never lead to marketable products;
our ability to obtain additional funding to support our
business activities; our dependence on third parties for
development, manufacture, marketing, sales and distribution
of our products; the successful development of products,
all of which are in early stages of development; obtaining
regulatory approval for products; competition from others
using technology similar to ours and others developing products
for similar uses; obtaining, maintaining and protecting
intellectual property utilized by our products; and our
short operating history; as well as those risks more fully
discussed in the "Certain Factors That May Affect Future
Results" section of our most recent Form 10-Q filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition,
any forward-looking statements represent our views only
as of today and should not be relied upon as representing
our views as of any subsequent date. We do not assume any
obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
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