CAMBRIDGE — Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. said yesterday it has licensed a potential treatment for Ebola virus to Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp.
The company granted Tekmira a license for a target-specific InterfeRx, which uses gene-silencing technology. Detailed financial terms were not disclosed, but include royalties on sales of any resulting product under the licensing agreement.
“We now have broad access to Alnylam’s leading intellectual property for the development of eight RNAi therapeutic products, including TKM-Ebola. We are encouraged by the strong preclinical data supporting the development of TKM-Ebola and look forward to filing an IND in the second half of 2011,’’ said Mark J. Murray, Tekmira president and chief executive.
“The TKM-Ebola program is fully funded under a $140 million contract Tekmira signed with the US government earlier this year.’’
To date, Alnylam has granted InterfeRx licenses to a total of six companies, including Tekmira.
