Novartis and Alnylam collaborate on RNAi therapeutics for pandemic flu

Published: 21-Feb-2006

Novartis and US-based RNAi therapeutics company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals are to collaborate on the development of RNAi therapeutics for pandemic flu. The move builds on the collaboration formed by the two companies in September 2005.


Novartis and US-based RNAi therapeutics company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals are to collaborate on the development of RNAi therapeutics for pandemic flu. The move builds on the collaboration formed by the two companies in September 2005.

The new alliance leverages Alnylam's expertise in RNAi and Novartis' capabilities and experience in bringing innovative therapeutics to patients. Financial terms were not disclosed.

'Multiple therapies are likely to be required both to prevent and to treat influenza,' said Mark Fishman, president of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. 'An RNAi therapeutic could be an innovative modality, crippling the virus through incapacitating several genes. In addition, such drugs might be adapted to new strains as they emerge. Of course, the technology is young and is just now being tested in early clinical trials, but our hope is that it will open new therapeutic frontiers.'

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 genes selectively through RNAi could provide a new way to treat a wide range of human diseases.

Alnylam, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is building a pipeline of RNAi therapeutics; its lead program is in Phase I human clinical trials for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, a leading cause of hospitalisation in infants in the US.

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