CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and CARLSBAD, Calif., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Isis
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISIS) and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
(Nasdaq: ALNY) announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) has allowed an Isis patent application that further expands the
scope of the "Crooke" patent estate. The newly allowed patent broadly covers
methods of cleaving a target RNA via a double-stranded ribonuclease mechanism,
including the RNAi mechanism, with chemically modified, single-stranded
RNA-containing drugs. Last year, Isis was awarded patents covering the
compositions and methods of treating patients with a double-stranded or a
single-stranded RNA-containing compounds, including double-stranded small
interfering RNA (siRNA), which further strengthened Isis' broadly applicable
intellectual property estate covering RNA-based drug discovery and
development.
