The agreement was made for the discovery of new cationic lipids employed in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for the systemic delivery of RNAi therapeutics.
Alnylam has funded the research and the work will be organized by scientists at UBC and AlCana.
As per the collaboration agreement, Alnylam will preserve the exclusive rights to all new innovations in the RNAi field as well as rights to sublicense any resulting intellectual property to Alnylam’s current and future partners.
Alnylam chief scientific officer Kenneth Koblan said in fact, the research conducted by AlCana and UBC has led to the discovery of their second generation LNPs that demonstrate improvements in potency, a wider therapeutic index, and potential for delivery beyond the liver.