Novartis and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. have formed a new collaboration to develop therapeutics for pandemic flu based on RNA interference (RNAi).

Novartis and Alnylam will advance RNAi therapeutics for pandemic flu to initial clinical testing and, if successful, regulatory approval. This new alliance leverages Alnylam's expertise in RNAi as well as the capabilities and experience of Novartis in bringing innovative therapeutics to patients, states the Novartis release.

"The influenza virus, through rapid mutation and potential inter-species transfer, represents an epidemic threat to the citizens of all countries. Multiple therapies are likely to be required both to prevent and to treat influenza," said Mark Fishman, M.D., President of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.

"An RNAi therapeutic could be an innovative modality, crippling the virus through incapacitating several genes. In addition, such drugs might be adapted to new strains as they emerge. Of course the technology is young and is just now being tested in early clinical trials, but our hope is that it will open new therapeutic frontiers," said Dr. Fishman.

The two companies already have a multi-year alliance signed in September 2005 that is focused on the discovery of innovative therapeutics based on RNAi across multiple disease areas in the Novartis research portfolio.

In December 2005 Alnylam had selected its pandemic flu programme for development. The company had received initial government funding for the programme from the US Department of Defence's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The program is seeking to develop RNAi therapeutic targeting sequences, both specific for particular strains and conserved strains across all flu strains, including those of avian origin. This RNAi therapeutic would be expected to have anti-viral activity against any newly emerging strain of influenza that may cause human disease and lead to a pandemic, including any variant of the H5N1 strain.