Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a leading RNAi therapeutics company, from Cambridge and Shanghai GenePharma, a leading siRNA supplier in China, announced that Alnylam has granted Shanghai GenePharma a non-exclusive world-wide 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 and of 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 Mr Jason Rhodes, Vice President of Business Development at Alnylam.
Mr Jason Rhodes said, "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."
"This agreement with Alnylam, a leader in the field of RNAi, reinforces our ability to become a leading global supplier of RNAi reagent products to the pharmaceutical and research community in China and worldwide. Access to the Kreutzer-Limmer patent estate allows us to augment our RNAi products, thereby strengthening our position in the life sciences marketplace," said Dr Peter Zhang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Shanghai GenePharma.
Alnylam's intellectual property estate includes certain fundamental patents and patent applications, including the Kreutzer-Limmer I and II patents, which claim the broad structural and functional properties of synthetic RNAi products.