Alnylam Pharmaceuticals said this week that it is investigating the use of RNAi to treat and prevent highly pathogenic influenza.

The project, however, is not an effort the company categorizes as a formal development program at this point. Currently, Alnylam considers only its age-related macular degeneration and respiratory syncytial virus projects as likely to enter human testing in the near term. The company has said, however, that it plans to announce the third main development program before the end of the year.