Chugai in-licenses RNAi therapeutic zilebesiran for Japan

Japanese drugmaker Chugai (TYO: 4519) today announced that it concluded a license agreement with its majority owner, Swiss pharma giant Roche (ROG: SIX), for zilebesiran, an investigational RNAi therapeutic for hypertension created by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ALNY) and currently under development by Roche and Alnylam.

Under the license agreement between Roche and Chugai, Chugai obtained commercialization rights in Japan for zilebesiran. In return, Roche will receive an undisclosed upfront fee and milestone payments.

Having first linked up with Alnylam in 2007, last year Roche entered into a new collaboration to develop and commercialize zilebesiran in deal potentially worth up to $2.8 billion.