Date: 2014-11-11
Type of information: Initiation of development program
phase:
Announcement: initiation of the development program
Company: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (USA - MA)
Product: ALN-HDV
Action mechanism:
Disease: chronic hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
Country:
Trial details:
Latest
news: * On November 11, 2014, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced that it has expanded its hepatic infectious disease pipeline. Specifically, in a presentation at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) meeting, the company announced it has added ALN-HDV, an RNAi therapeutic targeting the hepatitis delta viral (HDV) genome in development for the treatment of HDV infection. ALN-HDV, an investigational RNAi therapeutic targeting the HDV genome, is in development for the treatment of HDV infection. HDV is an RNA virus that infects hepatocytes and depends on a co-existing HBV infection to produce the envelope particle which holds its genome. HDV can be acquired at the same time or subsequent to infection with HBV, and is believed to infect between 15 and 20 million people worldwide. Chronic HDV infection results in more severe liver disease as compared to HBV infection alone, with higher risks of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Many chronic HDV patients progress to end-stage liver disease, where liver transplant is the only available treatment1. Alnylam plans to advance ALN-HDV as an ESC-GalNAc-siRNA conjugate combination with ALN-HBV targeting both the HBV and HDV genomes.
