Singapore: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced that the Japanese Patent Office upheld key claims in the Tuschl II patent (JP4095895) in an invalidation trial held in Japan. The invalidation request was made by Bio Think-Tank, a Japanese company.

"We are extremely pleased with the outcome of the invalidation trial which resulted in key claims from the Tuschl II '895 patent being upheld in Japan. This affirms our belief in the validity of these claims and the groundbreaking nature of the Tuschl II invention forming the basis of this critical patent family," said Dr Laurence Reid, senior VP and chief business officer at Alnylam. 

"We are gratified that the Japanese Patent Office has upheld these claims from Tuschl II," said Dr Joern Erselius, MD, Max Planck Innovation. "The successful examination of the Tuschl II patent series highlights that this invention is seminal for RNAi, demonstrating the importance of the work performed by Professor Tuschl and other co-inventors at the Max Planck Institute."

The Tuschl II patent series provides broad exclusivity for small interfering RNA (siRNA), the molecules that mediate RNAi, in the world's top pharmaceutical markets, which include the US (US 7,056,704 and US 7,078,196), the European Union (EP 1407044), China (CN100523215), and Japan (JP4095895 and JP4494392).

Specifically, the Japanese Tuschl II '895 patent broadly covers compositions, methods, and uses of siRNA that are important for the development and commercialization of RNAi therapeutics. The Tuschl II patent family is exclusively licensed to Alnylam for RNAi therapeutics on a worldwide basis through an agreement with Max Planck Innovation, the licensing agent for the Max Planck Society.