Alnylam Announces Grant of Broad Patent Covering RNAi Therapeutics in Germany

Complete the form below to unlock access to ALL audio articles.
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that the German Patent Office has granted a patent (DE 10080167 or “’167 patent”) for the Kreutzer-Limmer I patent series. The newly granted patent includes 52 claims broadly covering medicaments comprising small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), the molecules that mediate RNAi, as well as medical uses of siRNAs.
The covered siRNAs are 15 to 49 nucleotide pairs in length. The new Kreutzer-Limmer patent extends the worldwide scope for issued claims covering siRNA technology to Germany, the largest national pharmaceutical market of the European Union (EU).
The patent series has been licensed to Alnylam’s four pharmaceutical collaboration partners, seven biotechnology companies in Alnylam’s InterfeRx™ program, and 15 companies in the research reagent and services market. The patent is enforceable in Germany against potential infringers using the patented technology without an Alnylam license.
“Our intellectual property estate for RNAi therapeutics remains unparalleled in the industry, and represents an important component of our efforts to bring our innovative medicines to patients,” said John Maraganore, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam.
“Importantly, the newly granted ’167 patent covers a broad scope of medicaments containing siRNA structures having a length of 15 to 49 nucleotides which includes the so-called ‘blunt end’ or ‘dicer substrate’ design with or without chemical modifications, as well as other possible features,” Dr. Maraganore added.
The claims for the ’167 patent cover pharmaceutical compositions and uses of double-stranded RNAs having key elements that are widely recognized as important for the therapeutic activity of siRNAs, including, in general terms:
• A double stranded RNA with a length of 15 to 49 base pairs;
• Pharmaceutical compositions or uses of such siRNAs to inhibit the expression of mammalian target genes, where such genes are oncogenes, cytokine genes, developmental genes, or infectious disease genes;
• Chemical modifications, with no limitations, to provide stabilization from degradation; and/or, formulations, including liposomes, and modifications, including conjugates, to enable delivery.
The claims of the Kreutzer-Limmer ’167 patent are provided on the company’s website, together with claims from other Alnylam owned or licensed patents.