Gen-Probe Incorporated has licensed to Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, non-exclusive rights to use Gen-Probe's hybridization protection assay (HPA) technology in the development of therapeutic RNA interfering (RNAi) molecules.

"This agreement enables us to generate economic value from our proprietary technologies in an exciting, growing area that is outside our molecular diagnostic focus," said Martin Edelshain, Gen-Probe's vice president of corporate development.

In developing RNAi therapeutics, researchers must be able to monitor the biodistribution of the drugs throughout the body. Gen-Probe's HPA technology detects these circulating RNAi molecules. With this technology, a specific DNA probe is labelled with an acridinium ester detector molecule that emits light when the probe hybridizes (binds) with its specified target. A luminometer detects and measures the light emitted from the reaction, if any. If no light is generated, the target RNAi molecule is not present in the sample. Based on the high sensitivity of HPA, researchers can use it to detect target molecules without employing cumbersome and time-consuming amplification steps.

Alnylam is a leader in developing therapeutics based on RNAi, which is a naturally occurring mechanism within cells for selectively silencing and regulating specific genes. Since many diseases are caused by the inappropriate activity of specific genes, the ability to silence genes selectively through RNAi could provide a new way to treat a wide range of human disease.