赛诺菲投资7亿美元支持Alnylam开发RNAi疗法

    2014年1月14日赛诺菲宣布将扩大与Alnylam公司在RNAi研究领域的合作。公司将投入约7亿美元收购Ainylam公司约12%的股份以支持其目前处于研发阶 段的各种研究项目。这一动作同时也标志着赛诺菲在波士顿地区继续扩大影响。公司此前以200亿美元的价格收购了Genzyme公司，而Genzyme公司将与Ainylam在RNAi领域开始密切配合。

    事实上，不仅仅是赛诺菲，一些制药*都已经开始表现出重返RNAi疗法研究的迹象。例如罗氏公司刚刚签订了第二份关于RNAi研究的合作协议。这些迹象都暗示着今后这些医药研发*将可能向RNAi疗法这一研究领域投入巨大精力。

详细英文报道：

Sanofi is doubling down on its RNAi development deal with Alnylam. The pharma giant ($SNY) says it will pay a hefty premium to buy up a 12% stake in the biotech, investing $700 million and greatly expanding its rights to Alnylam's ($ALNY) lead drug along with a portfolio of current and prospective therapies.

The deal highlights Big Pharma's return to RNAi, a new technology for gene silencing that experienced a deep chill several years ago as Roche ($RHHBY) and others bowed out of the field. But Roche recently struck its second RNAi pact and Sanofi clearly believes that the industry is nearing some critical product-development milestones.

The expanded partnership also spotlights Sanofi's growing involvement in the Boston hub, where it paid $20 billion for Genzyme and its rare disease drugs. Now the Genzyme subsidiary will work with Alnylam on patisiran, in development for TTR-familial amyloid polyneuropathy, gaining marketing rights outside of North America and Europe. Sanofi also gains marketing rights to three other therapies in the pipeline while nabbing options on all other products that treat rare diseases.

Alnylam execs have been one of the chief proponents of RNAi as the next big product arena, with potential to rival monoclonal antibodies in terms of revenue potential. And they clearly relished the opportunity to boast about the new deal at the beginning of the big JPMorgan conference in San Francisco.

"RNAi therapeutics now have the opportunity to be the next product platform," Alnylam COO Barry Greene told Reuters.——（华雅干细胞整理报道）