Friday, January 9, 2009

Alnylam could get $102M from Cubist RNAi development deal

By Mass High Tech staff

Bay State drug makers Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. report that they are working together to develop and bring to market Alnylam’s RNAi (RNA interference)-based ALN-RSV program, in a deal that could be worth $102.5 million to Cambridge-based Alnylam.

Cubist (Nasdaq: CBST) will pay Alnylam (Nasdaq: ALNY) an upfront payment of $20 million. In addition, Alnylam is eligible to receive development and sales milestone payments from Cubist that could total $82.5 million, as well as double digit royalties on net sales outside of North America and Asia.

The companies describe the collaboration as a 50/50 co-development and profit share arrangement covering North America and a milestone- and royalty-bearing license deal in the rest of the world. That global deal does not include Asia, where ALN-RSV is partnered with Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co. Ltd.

The program includes the drug ALN-RSV01, which is in Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in adult lung transplant patients, as well as several other RNAi-based RSV inhibitors that are in pre-clinical stages, according to officials. RSV is a highly contagious virus that causes infections in both the upper and lower respiratory tract. The virus infects nearly every child at least once by the age of two years, the companies said, and is a major cause of hospitalization due to respiratory infection in children and people with compromised immune systems.

Earlier this week, Lexington-based Cubist said it had filed two Investigational New Drug applications with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The INDs include CB-182,804, Cubist’s drug treatment of multi-drug resistant Gram-negative infections, and the CB-183,315, for treatment of Clostridium difficile associated diarrhea (CDAD).

In December, Alnylam said it had purchased more than 100 active patent filings in the field of RNAi from Langhorne, Pa.- based Nucleonics Inc., a privately-held biotech company. Of those patents, 16 have been granted worldwide and six have been granted in the U.S., the European Union, and Japan.

Cubist reported a profit of $48 million on revenue of $294.6 million for 2007. Alnylam had an $85.5 million loss for 2007, with revenue of $50.9 million.