Alnylam Grants Calando License to Develop and Commercialize RNAi Therapeutic Product

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that it has granted Calando Pharmaceuticals, a majority-owned subsidiary of Arrowhead Research Corporation, an InterfeRx™ license to discover, develop, and commercialize an RNAi therapeutic utilizing a synthetic siRNA, together exclusively with Calando's proprietary delivery technology, that is directed towards a cancer target.

As part of the agreement, Calando also has an option to acquire an InterfeRx license for a second target gene.

Include upfront, annual, and milestone payments, and royalties on sales of any products covered by the licensing agreement.

"Alnylam established the InterfeRx licensing program to provide access to our leading intellectual property estate for disease targets in areas outside the scope of our current research," said John Maraganore, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam.

"We are pleased to be granting this license to Calando to enable their efforts with Alnylam intellectual property, which we believe is critical for the development and commercialization of RNAi therapeutics."

"Calando is the seventh licensee for RNAi therapeutics under Alnylam patents and the fourth company to participate in our InterfeRx program, which represents an important part of our overall strategy to create value today by leveraging our intellectual property portfolio in RNAi through collaborations."

"We expect the recent strengthening of our intellectual property estate, with the issuance of the '704 and '196 patents in the U.S. and the upheld grant of our '623 patent in Europe, to accelerate these and other business development activities."

"Calando is focused on designing, developing, and commercializing RNAi therapeutics to treat serious medical conditions, such as cancer, by combining effective siRNAs with our patented and proprietary systemic delivery technologies," said John Petrovich, President and Chief Executive Officer of Calando Pharmaceuticals.

"This license from Alnylam is an important step in our efforts to develop and commercialize novel RNAi therapies for serious diseases and conditions requiring systemic delivery."