By Donald Zuhn --
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has received a German patent (DE 10080167) in the "Kreutzer-Limmer I" patent series. According to the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics company, the Kreutzer-Limmer I patent series is one of three "fundamental patent" families that Alnylam has exclusively licensed and which the company "believes will be most important in providing competitive advantage and product exclusivity with respect to RNAi therapeutics" (see "Science & Technology - Intellectual Property" at Alnylam's website). The other two "fundamental patent" series include the Crooke and Tuschl II series of patents. While the latter two series include U.S. patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 5,898,031; 6,107,094; 7,056,704; and 7,078,196), the Kreutzer-Limmer I series does not include a U.S. patent.
According to Alnylam's statement, the German Kreutzer-Limmer I patent contains 52 claims providing broad coverage of medicaments and uses of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) of between 15 and 49 nucleotides in length. Alnylam noted that the Kreutzer-Limmer I series has been licensed to the company's four pharmaceutical collaboration partners, seven biotechnology companies in Alnylam's InterfeRx program, and 15 companies in the research reagent and services market.
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