NEW YORK, April 13 (GenomeWeb News) - Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases plan to co-develop RNAi therapeutics targeting viruses, Alnylam said yesterday.
Under the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, Alnylam will use its RNAi therapeutic platform to discover and develop agents against viruses posing "a serious biological threat to the military and public health," including hemorrhagic fever viruses, according to a company statement.
According to Alnylam, USAMRIID is "an organization which is uniquely positioned to collaborate in translational research for Biosafety Level 4 threats."
Last year, Alnylam signed a CRADA with the Department of Defense's DARPA unit to develop RNAi-based influenza therapeutics.