Takeda pays milestone fee to Alnylam for technology transfer

Takeda has paid a fee of $20 million (13.4 million pounds) to Alnylam Pharmaceuticals as part of an ongoing collaboration on RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics.

Alnylam has received the payment after completing certain objectives in the transfer of documentation, expertise and materials to Takeda relating to the technology platform.

This comes as part of an alliance formed in May 2008, with Takeda hoping that the RNAi know-how which Alnylam supplies can support its activities in the fields of oncology and metabolic disease.

Alnylam has received $140 million from Takeda as part of this arrangement so far, with a further $10 million dependent on the achievement of further clinical and commercial milestones.

Shigenori Ohkawa, executive vice-president and chief scientific officer of Takeda, said: “We are excited by the completion of this stage in our technology transfer with Alnylam, which provides Takeda with a world-class foundation for RNAi drug discovery.”

Last week, the company launched the Takeda Initiative, an endowment programme which will offer financial support to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.