Thursday, June 19, 2008

Alnylam adds Kyowa Hakko to list of Japanese RNAi partners

By Mass High Tech Staff

Drug developer Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. will receive as much as $93 million from an alliance with Tokyo-based Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Ltd. to develop and market an RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic for a respiratory virus infection.

The compound from Cambridge-based Alnylam (Nasdaq: ALNY) is in Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus infection. The agreement with Kyowa Hakko is for rights in Japan and other major markets in Asia.

Kyowa Hakko will pay Alnylam $15 million in an upfront cash payment and up to an $78 million more in development and sales milestone payments. Once a drug reaches the market, Alnylam will get double-digit royalties from Kyowa Hakko based on the sales of ALN-RSV01 in Asia.

Alnylam keeps all development and commercialization rights worldwide outside of Asia.

Late last month another Japanese company partnered with Alnylam when Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. entered into a new deal worth up to $1 billion to license the Alnylam’s RNAi drugs.

With 129 employees as of March 2008, Alnylam reported a 2007 net loss of $85.5 million on revenue of $50.9 million.