Alnylam said this week that it has co-exclusively licensed from Stanford University the therapeutic rights to a patent application covering RNAi-mediated inhibition of gene expression in mammals, as well as related technology.
The patent application (numbered 20030153519 and filed on July 19, 2002) specifically claims the delivery of an “RNAi agent” — including interfering ribonucleic acid, such as an siRNA or shRNA, or a transcription template thereof, such as a DNA encoding an shRNA — to a non-embryonic mammal “via a hydrodynamic administration protocol.” Also covered under the application are “RNAi agent pharmaceutical preparations for use in subject methods.”
Specific terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.
The deal with Stanford comes less than two months after Alnylam signed separate deals to license patent applications from Cancer Research Technology and MIT related to inhibiting gene expression with dsRNA and drug delivery techniques for nucleic acid compounds, respectively.
Alnylam has been pushing since its inception to establish a firm IP foundation, acquiring German peer Ribopharma in July partly for its patent estate.