Alnylam grants siRNA patents to Hayashi Kasei

The USA's Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has granted Hayashi Kasei, a leading siRNA supplier in Japan and Korea, a non-exclusive license to provide RNAi research products and services under the Kreutzer-Limmer patent family. This patent family, owned exclusively by Alnylam, covers small interfering RNAs and their use to mediate RNA interference in mammalian cells.

Barry Greene, chief operating officer of Alnylam, said that the firm continues to leverage its "leading intellectual property estate through relationships worldwide that we expect will create value today and in the future. With approximately 30 licenses granted in the US, European and Asian markets, including 14 with research product suppliers, we believe that the vast majority of industrial sales of siRNAs for research purposes are currently being made under access to Alnylam's intellectual property."

Alnylam's IP estate includes certain fundamental patents and patent applications, including those for Kreutzer-Limmer I and II, which claim the broad structural and functional properties of synthetic RNAi products.