Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALNY) announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) that it has expanded its hepatic infectious disease pipeline with two new candidates – ALN-HDV and ALN-PDL.
While ALN-HDV, an RNAi therapeutic that targets the hepatitis delta viral (HDV) genome, is being developed for the treatment of HDV infection, ALN-PDL, an RNAi therapeutic that targets the hepatocyte-expressed programmed death ligand (PD-L1), is being evaluated for the treatment of chronic liver infections.
Meanwhile, Alnylam remains on track for the selection of a development candidate for its ALN-HBV program by the end of this year and also plans to file an investigational new drug (IND) application or its equivalent towards the end of 2015. The ALN-HBV program is for the treatment of hepatitis B viral (HBV) infection.
According to the press release issued by Alnylam, HBV and HDV infections are serious health problems, which affect nearly 400 million and 15 million people across the world, respectively. Alnylam also mentioned a significant unmet need in treating these infections, as they are the major causes of fibrotic liver disease and liver cancer worldwide.
We are encouraged by Alnylam’s progress with its RNAi therapeutics. Presently, the two most advanced candidates at Alnylam are patisiran (familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy) and revusiran (familial amyloidotic cardiomyopathy). While patisiran is in a phase III study (APOLLO), Alnylam intends to initiate a phase III study on revusiran by the end of 2014.
With data read-outs expected in the coming months and through 2015, we expect investor focus to remain on pipeline updates from the company.
Alnylam currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Some better-ranked stocks in the health care sector include AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMAG), Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) and Illumina Inc. (ILMN). All three carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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