CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today announced that it has initiated a Phase I human clinical trial of ALN-VSP to evaluate its safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics in patients with advanced liver cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma and other solid tumors with liver involvement. ALN-VSP is an RNAi therapeutic comprised of two small interfering RNAs (or siRNAs, the molecules that mediate RNAi) formulated in a lipid nanoparticle developed by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation and designed to target two genes critical in the growth and development of cancer cells: kinesin spindle protein, or KSP, required for tumor proliferation; and vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF, required for tumor growth. Pre-clinical data in mouse tumor model studies have demonstrated robust efficacy of ALN-VSP, including suppression of targeted genes, demonstration of an RNAi mechanism of action, tumor reduction, and extension of survival.
