Tekmira Partner Alnylam Presents ALN-VSP Preliminary Phase 1 Clinical Trial Results At American Society Of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation (TSX:TKM), a leader in RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics, announced that one of the Company's pharmaceutical partners, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY), presented preliminary data from an ongoing Phase 1 human clinical trial of ALN-VSP. ALN-VSP utilizes Tekmira's lipid nanoparticle technology (stable nucleic acid-lipid particles or SNALP) and is a systemically delivered novel RNAi product being developed as a treatment of advanced solid tumors with liver involvement.
Dr. Mark J. Murray, Tekmira's President and CEO, said "We are pleased to report that our partner Alnylam is presenting ALN-VSP data at ASCO. These results represent an important milestone in the advancement of RNAi therapeutic products that utilize our lipid nanoparticle technology. We continue to manufacture ALN-VSP drug product for Alnylam and will benefit as ALN-VSP advances through clinical development and commercialization by earning milestone payments as well as royalties on product sales."
About RNAi and SNALP
RNAi therapeutics have the potential to treat a broad number of human diseases by "silencing" disease causing genes. The discoverers of RNAi, a gene silencing mechanism used by all cells, were awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. RNAi therapeutics, such as "siRNAs," require delivery technology to be effective systemically. Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are one of the most widely used siRNA delivery approaches for systemic administration. Tekmira's SNALP (stable nucleic acid-lipid particles) technology is the leading class of LNPs being used in clinical development. SNALP technology encapsulates siRNAs with high efficiency in uniform lipid nanoparticles which are effective in delivering RNAi therapeutics to disease sites in numerous preclinical models. SNALP formulations are manufactured by a proprietary method which is robust, scalable and highly reproducible. SNALP-based products have been reviewed by multiple FDA divisions for use in clinical trials. SNALP formulations comprise several lipid components that can be adjusted to suit the specific application. |