Friday, July 11, 2008

One Alnylam RNAi patent overturned in Europe

RNAi therapeutics company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported that a patent it had licensed has been overturned by the European Patent Office.

Officials at Cambridge-based Alnylam (Nasdaq: ALNY) said that the Glover patent, which it had licensed with exclusivity from Cancer Research Technology Limited, completed the initial oral opposition proceedings. That led to the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office overturning the previously granted claims of the patent which covered certain features of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics.

Alnylam says it will appeal any decision which does not result in the patent being maintained in its present form or scope. The company’s IP portfolio related to RNAi is extensive, and includes the Crooke Patents licensed exclusively from Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., the Kreutzer-Limmer series of patents, and the Tuschl series of patents from the Max Planck Society.

RNAi drugs are designed to target messenger RNA molecules to block the expression of certain genes linked to diseases.

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