Dicerna to Pay Alnylam $25 Million as Part of Litigation Settlement

Rare Daily Staff

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Dicerna Pharmaceuticals said they have resolved all litigation relating to lawsuits filed against each other relating to claims and counterclaims of misappropriation of trade secrets over their RNAi technologies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dicerna will pay $25 million comprised of cash and stock to Alnylam, and Dicerna will be restricted in its development and other activities relating to oligonucleotide-based therapeutics directed toward a defined set of Alnylam targets, for periods ranging from 18 months up to four years. The payment to Alnylam includes an upfront fee of $2 million, plus 983,208 shares of Dicerna common stock.

Dicerna will also pay to Alnylam an additional $13.0 million over the next four years, the timing of which is dependent on revenue Dicerna receives pursuant to future partnerships based on its RNAi platform known as GalXC. This settlement excludes any amounts received by Dicerna from its existing collaboration with Boehringer-Ingelheim.

The settlement does not include any license to any intellectual property from either party. Nor does the settlement include any admission of liability or wrongdoing by either company. All other settlement terms of the agreement were confidential.

Dicerna said the settlement allows Dicerna to advance all of its key and planned pipeline programs while maintaining a strong balance sheet.

“With today’s announcement of a settlement with Alnylam, we are now able to focus the entirety of our resources on the advancement of our key clinical and discovery programs,” said Douglas Fambrough, president and CEO of Dicerna.

April 23, 2018
Photo Douglas Fambrough, president and CEO of Dicerna