By Christopher P. Singer --
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Roche announced on July 9, 2007 that they have entered into a non-exclusive license agreement in the area of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics. The agreement includes an upfront payment of $331 million from Roche to Alnylam, which includes cash payments, purchase of 1.975 million shares of Alnylam common stock (about 5% of its outstanding shares), and the acquisition of Alnylam's European research site located in Kulmbach, Germany. The research site will become Roche's Center of Excellence for RNAi therapeutics. The agreement also provides for milestone payments from Roche to Alnylam on candidate products throughout the various stages of development as well as royalty payments on sales of commercial products.
Under the current terms, Roche has access to a broad spectrum of Alnylam's intellectual property, including rights to aspects of their chemistry and delivery technologies. The agreement, at this time, covers four general indication areas: oncology, respiratory disease, metabolic disease, and certain liver diseases. The agreement allows for potential field expansion payments from Roche to Alnylam that would increase the number of therapeutic areas covered by the agreement.
For additional information regarding the licensing agreement, please see:
- Roche's press release
- Alnylam's press release
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