Alnylam nears EU approval for patent broadly covering RNAi therapeutics in oncology

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals of the USA says that the European Patent Office (EPO) has issued a notification of intent to grant for a patent in the Kreutzer-Limmer III patent series (EP Application No 02702247.4). This patent series stems from the pioneering RNAi research performed by scientists at Ribopharma AG, which was acquired by Alnylam in 2003.

The Kreutzer-Limmer III patent series extends the scope and breadth of Alnylam's fundamental intellectual property estate that comprises numerous issued or granted patents and a large number of pending patent applications that together broadly cover RNAi therapeutics, including small interfering RNAs, or siRNAs, the molecules that mediate RNAi.

Barry Greene, president and chief operating officer of Alnylam, commented: 'The grant of this new patent series in the European Union continues to expand the scope of our fundamental IP estate that also includes issued or granted patents from the Crooke, Kreutzer-Limmer, Tuschl I, Tuschl II, and Kay & McCaffrey patent estates, among other patent applications pending.'

The new patent includes 22 claims covering methods and medicaments for use of an RNAi therapeutic in oncology applications. The methods claims cover the use of siRNAs to inhibit anti-apoptotic genes in malignant cells. The corresponding medicament claims cover siRNA compositions that are less than 25 nucleotides in length having a 3' nucleotide 'overhang' on the antisense strand and also cover 'hairpin' siRNAs which have an overhang at the 3' end of the molecule.