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Isis and Alnylam Announce Issued U.S. Patent Broadly Covering Chemical Modifications of Oligonucleotide Therapeutics

29 Nov 2006 - Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that a key patent was issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The U.S. patent (No. 7,138,517 or " '517 patent") broadly covers certain chemical modifications of oligonucleotides used to introduce "drug-like" properties in antisense oligonucleotides, including small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), the molecules that mediate RNA interference (RNAi). The issued patent is owned by Isis and is licensed exclusively to Alnylam for double-stranded RNAi therapeutic applications pursuant to the terms of their 2004 collaboration and license agreement.
 
The new '517 patent stems from the Cook patent series that includes three previously issued U.S. patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 5,670,633; 6,005,087; and 6,531,584), and its claims broadly cover oligonucleotide compositions containing more than one 2'-ribose modifications such as 2'-O-methyl and 2'-fluoro groups. According to Alnylam, these chemical modifications can be used to improve potency and stability of siRNAs and can also be used to optimize their selectivity.