Alnylam Bolsters Patent Portfolio

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals announced yesterday that is has acquired a massive amount of intellectual property through Nucleonics, Inc.  Through Alnylam’s website, the company announced that it acquired over 100 active patent filings, including 16 patents that have been issued worldwide.

The Cambridge-based company specializes in developing drugs that use RNA interference technology, otherwise known as gene silencing.  Although Alnylam’s portfolio already consists of more than 150 issued chemistry patents, this new set includes several early patents in the RNAi therapeutics field.

Barry Greene, President and COO of Alnylam, said “When added to our existing IP estate, which is already dominant in the field, the Nucleonics IP estate provides further strengthening of a portfolio that is buttressed across all possible dimensions.  Importantly, Alnylam’s IP estate is defined by a very large number of distinct patent elements that in aggregate define the overall strength of our exclusivity in the RNAi therapeutics field.”

Some have wondered about the financial aspects of the acquisition, but financial terms were not disclosed.  Alnylam still maintains that this transaction will not change their expectation of finishing the year with more than $500 million in cash and other investments.