Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Medtronic and CHDI Foundation have formed a collaboration to advance a novel drug-device combination, ALN-HTT for the treatment of Huntington’s disease.
ALN-HTT consists of an RNAi therapeutic targeting huntingtin, the gene responsible for Huntington’s disease, that is being developed for delivery to the central nervous system (CNS) using an implantable infusion system developed by Medtronic.
Alnylam and Medtronic have worked collaboratively to advance ALN-HTT for the treatment of Huntington’s disease.
Under the new collaboration, CHDI has agreed to initially fund up to 50% of the investigational new drug (IND) application-enabling activities.
The agreement between Alnylam and Medtronic will remain as a 50-50 partnership in the US, under which Medtronic will commercialise the therapy consisting of the RNAi compound and delivery device.
However, Alnylam has the opportunity to invest in clinical development through product launch in return for a proportional share of the profits.
In Europe, Medtronic is solely responsible for development and commercialization, and Alnylam is eligible to receive milestones and royalties.
Alnylam Research vice president Dinah Sah said that they are very pleased to add CHDI as a partner in our Huntington’s disease program; they will contribute to advancing ALN-HTT towards the clinic with Medtronic.
“Our pre-clinical data provide a strong rationale for this program, and we remain encouraged by the potential that ALN-HTT may offer to patients,” Sah said.