Alnylam research prod deal with Shanghai GenePharma

USA-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a leading RNAi therapeutics company, has granted Shanghai GenePharma, a top siRNA supplier in China, a non-exclusive worldwide license to manufacture and provide RNAi research products and services under the Kreutzer-Limmer patent family. This patent family, owned exclusively by Alnylam, covers fundamental aspects of the structure and uses of RNAi products including their use to mediate RNAi in mammalian cells as well as RNAi-related mechanisms.

"The Kreutzer-Limmer patent family is one of the critical components of fundamental intellectual property in the field of RNAi, and we are pleased to grant Shanghai GenePharma a license to manufacture and provide siRNA reagents to its industry and academic customers around the world for research purposes," said Jason Rhodes, vice president of business development at Alnylam. "Providing this license to Shanghai GenePharma represents our first business transaction in China, which is regarded as having one of the fastest-growing life science markets in the world. With more than 16 license agreements with global research product suppliers, we believe the vast majority of industrial sales of RNAi products for research purposes are currently being made under a license from Alnylam."