Alnylam Forms Collaboration with Max Planck Institute to Investigate Biological Mechanisms for Cellular Uptake of RNAi Therapeutics

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced it has formed an exclusive research agreement with the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany, to investigate and characterize the molecular mechanisms underlying intracellular transport of small interfering RNA, (siRNA), the molecules that mediate RNAi.

Alnylam scientists will work closely with the laboratory of Marino Zerial, Ph.D., whose team is internationally recognized as being at the forefront of the intracellular trafficking field and have the needed expertise and capabilities to investigate cellular uptake pathways in a high-throughput manner. Alnylam will have an option on any intellectual property that results from this agreement.

“Alnylam has a long-standing commitment to scientific excellence in the field of RNAi therapeutics and our new collaboration with Professor Zerial and his team is representative of the collaborations we have and will continue to form as we seek to increase our understanding of the underlying mechanism of cellular delivery of RNAi therapeutics,” said Victor Kotelianski, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President for Research at Alnylam.

“This agreement complements our existing delivery collaborations and will provide deep insights into the cellular uptake of siRNAs and the pathways by which they function. We believe the findings from this effort will allow us to further optimize and expand our broad range of delivery approaches for RNAi therapeutics.”