CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that the Japanese Patent Office has granted claims in a second patent application (JP Application Number 2006-317758) for the Tuschl II patent series, entitled “RNA Interference Mediating Small RNA Molecules.” In May 2008, the Japanese Patent Office granted a related set of claims in the Tuschl II patent series (JP 4 095 895). The Tuschl II patent series provides broad exclusivity for small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), the molecules that mediate RNAi, in the world’s top pharmaceutical markets, which include the U.S. (U.S. Patent Nos. 7,056,704 and 7,078,196), the European Union (EP 1407044), China (01820900.9), and Japan. The Tuschl II patent is exclusively licensed to Alnylam for RNAi therapeutics on a worldwide basis through an agreement with Max Planck Innovation GmbH, the licensing agent for the Max Planck Society.
