Alnylam Notified of Defense Appropriation Funding for Ongoing Development of RNAi Therapeutics

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2007, passed by Congress last week, includes $1.1 million of funding dedicated to Alnylam’s ongoing development of RNAi therapeutics.

Congressional support for this effort builds upon existing public sector-private sector partnerships that the company has formed to develop RNAi therapeutics for public health.

This appropriation, combined with earlier funding from the government, supports the goal of Alnylam Biodefense to build a platform for developing RNAi therapeutics to combat natural or man-made biological threats that pose a potential risk to public health and national security.

"We are pleased to receive this support from the U.S. Congress to develop a broad-spectrum RNAi therapeutics platform," said Barry Greene, Chief Operating Officer of Alnylam.

"We believe this additional funding recognizes the potential of RNAi therapeutics as a broad platform technology that could enable the rapid and reproducible generation of pharmacological countermeasures against bioterrorism threats."

"With this funding and additional funding from the National Institutes of Health for the development of an RNAi therapeutic targeting the Ebola virus, we are advancing our Alnylam Biodefense efforts to meet bio-preparedness needs for U.S. military personnel and the nation."

"In addition, we intend to use this appropriation funding to strengthen our overall platform capabilities and its applications for discovery of RNAi therapeutics for traditional clinical indications."