BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

Alnylam, Tekmira restructure partnership, settle litigation

November 14, 2012 2:28 AM UTC

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY) and Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. (TSX:TKM; NASDAQ:TKMR) agreed to a new deal that will settle all litigation between the partners, including a suit related to Tekmira's lipid nanoparticle (LNP) siRNA delivery technology. Alnylam will pay Tekmira $65 million, including $35 million to terminate the partners' prior deals and to reduce milestone and royalty payments owed to Tekmira for siRNA therapeutic ALN-PCS and RNAi products ALN-VSP and ALN-TTR02.

Under the new deal, Alnylam will transfer IP to Tekmira covering the LNP technology, and Alnylam will retain rights to the IP to develop and commercialize LNP-based products, including ALN-VSP, ALN-PCS and ALN-TTR02. Tekmira could receive $16 million in milestones plus low single-digit royalties for any future LNP-based products. Alnylam will no longer owe milestones on its own products, except for two $5 million payments tied to ALN-TTR02 and ALN-VSP. Alnylam no longer has opt-in rights to Tekmira's lead cancer product, siRNA therapeutic TKM-PLK1, which is slated to start Phase II testing next year. ...