Alnylam granted RNAi patent in Europe

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 Cancer Research Technology (CRT).

Patents based on this application have previously been issued in Singapore and Australian. Alnylam holds worldwide exclusive therapeutic rights to this CRT patent under its 2003 license agreement with CRT.

Alnylam has also signed an amendment to its agreements with Garching Innovation, the licensing agent for the Max Planck Gesellschaft Society. This amendment reinforces Alnylam’s continued exclusivity for the so-called “Tuschl II” patent application, a critical fundamental patent for RNAi, and improves the operating flexibility for the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Alnylam Europe.

The Tuschl II patent application is based on the discoveries of Alnylam founder, Dr. Thomas Tuschl. The Tuschl II patent application is licensed exclusively to Alnylam for therapeutic products, and is distinct from the so-called “Tuschl I” patent application, for which Alnylam has a non-exclusive license.

The patent application for Tuschl II covers key structural features of short interfering RNAs (siRNAs), the molecules that mediate RNAi, and covers the activity of such molecules in mammalian cells and their use as therapeutics. Tuschl II was the first patent application in the Tuschl series to show data from mammalian cells and to demonstrate that 3′ overhangs are required for optimal siRNA function.