Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and KOKEN Co.,Ltd., announced that Alnylam has granted KOKEN 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 small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and their use to mediate RNAi in mammalian cells, and of RNAi-related mechanisms.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals would contribute over 1,500 RNA interference (RNAi) patents to the patent pool established by GlaxoSmithKline in March 2009. Alnylam is known for the development of therapeutics based on RNAi for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, liver cancer, hypercholesterolemia, Huntington’s disease, and TTR amyloidosis. The patents in the pool will be provided on a royalty-free, non-profit basis in Least Developed Countries via licensing agreements with qualified third parties.

Boston Biomedical, Inc. and AiRNA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have announced that asymmetrical interfering RNA (aiRNA), a new fundamental RNAi technology discovered by the companies, is being published in the December issue of Nature Biotechnology. The publication titled “Asymmetric RNA Duplexes Mediate RNA Interference in Mammalian Cells” highlights that the smaller 15 bp aiRNA can target a variety of genes with superior efficiency than the standard 19-21 bp siRNA. Furthermore, the new aiRNA structure can target genes more selectively with significantly less off-target effects than the standard 19-21 bp siRNA.

Invitrogen Corporation production and diagnostics has announced the introduction of its Invivofectamine™ delivery reagent which enables short interference ribonucleic acid (siRNA) experiments in vivo. The study of RNA interference (RNAi) has revolutionized biology by allowing researchers to directly observe the effects of the loss of function of specific genes in mammalian systems. Using proprietary technology, the Invivofectamine™ delivery reagent allows researchers to directly study the effects of siRNA inside a living organism for a variety of applications, including the drug discovery process.

Researchers at the University of Texas have developed a polymer-based delivery system which could lead to vaccines that would be more effective and specific to the infectious disease. The engineers have used ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules for the purpose. The two year long study used the new system on mice, delivering a DNA-based hepatitis B vaccine. The immune response was found to be much stronger as compared to the conventional system.