Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Arrowhead Research said this week that they have signed an agreement giving each other access to their respective RNAi drug technologies.
Under the deal, Alnylam gave Arrowhead access to its RNAi-related intellectual property for the development and commercialization of a treatment for hepatitis B. Alnylam stands to receive milestones and royalties through the arrangement.
Meantime, Arrowhead granted Alnylam the rights to use its dynamic polyconjugate delivery technology for an undisclosed RNAi drug. Alnylam said the candidate would likely be part of its Alnylam 5x15 initiative, which calls for the company to have five drugs against “genetically defined targets and diseases” in the clinic by 2015 (GSN 1/6/2011).
Arrowhead will be paid milestones and royalties on products Alnylam commercializes using the technology, which it acquired from Roche last year (GSN 10/27/2011).
Additional terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.
“We view Arrowhead’s DPC technology as a promising emerging delivery approach, with the potential to complement our existing delivery platform,” Alnylam CBO Laurence Reid said in a statement.
“This license from Alnylam is an important step for us as we expand our pipeline to include our first DPC-enabled candidate targeting hepatitis B,” Arrowhead President and CEO Christopher Anzalone added.