Alnylam Grants KOKEN License to Kreutzer-Limmer Patents for the RNA Interference (RNAi) Research Products Market

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & TOKYO--(Business Wire)--
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), a leading RNAi therapeutics
company, and KOKEN Co., Ltd., a leading atelocollagen company, announced today
that Alnylam has granted KOKEN a non-exclusive worldwide license to manufacture
and provide RNAi research products and services under the Kreutzer-Limmer patent
family. This patent family, owned exclusively by Alnylam, covers fundamental
aspects of the structure and uses of RNAi products, including small interfering
RNAs (siRNAs) and their use to mediate RNAi in mammalian cells, and of
RNAi-related mechanisms.

"We are pleased to grant KOKEN a license to manufacture and provide siRNA
reagents to its industry and academic customers around the world for research
purposes," said Jason Rhodes, Vice President of Business Development at Alnylam.
"This new agreement continues to underscore the value of the Kreutzer-Limmer
patent family as a critical component of fundamental intellectual property in
the field of RNAi. With more than 15 license agreements with global research
product suppliers, including five in the Asian markets alone, we believe the
vast majority of industrial sales of RNAi products for research purposes are
currently being made under a license from Alnylam."

"This new agreement with Alnylam enhances our ability to become a leading global
supplier of innovative RNAi reagent products in Japan and worldwide," said Yuzo
Tarumi, Ph.D., President of KOKEN. "Access to the Kreutzer-Limmer patent estate
enables us to augment our current RNAi products, thereby strengthening our
position in the life sciences marketplace."

Alnylam`s intellectual property estate includes certain fundamental patents and
patent applications, including the Kreutzer-Limmer I and II patents, which claim
the broad structural and functional properties of synthetic RNAi products.

About RNA Interference (RNAi)

1BRNAi (RNA interference) is a revolution in biology, representing a
breakthrough in understanding how genes are turned on and off in cells, and a
completely new approach to drug discovery and development. Its discovery has
been heralded as "a major scientific breakthrough that happens once every decade
or so," and represents one of the most promising and rapidly advancing frontiers
in biology and drug discovery today which was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize for
Physiology or Medicine. RNAi is a natural process of gene silencing that occurs
in organisms ranging from plants to mammals. By harnessing the natural
biological process of RNAi occurring in our cells, the creation of a major new
class of medicines, known as RNAi therapeutics, is on the horizon. Small
interfering RNAs (siRNAs), the molecules that mediate RNAi and comprise
Alnylam`s RNAi therapeutic platform, target the cause of diseases by potently
silencing specific mRNAs, thereby preventing disease-causing proteins from being
made. RNAi therapeutics have the potential to treat disease and help patients in
a fundamentally new way.

About Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

Alnylam is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics based on
RNA interference, or RNAi. The company is applying its therapeutic expertise in
RNAi to address significant medical needs, many of which cannot effectively be
addressed with small molecules or antibodies, the current major classes of
drugs. Alnylam is leading the translation of RNAi as a new class of innovative
medicines with peer-reviewed research efforts published in the world`s top
scientific journals including Nature, Nature Medicine, and Cell. The company is
leveraging these capabilities to build a broad pipeline of RNAi therapeutics;
its most advanced program is in Phase II human clinical trials for the treatment
of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection and is partnered with Cubist and
Kyowa Hakko. In addition, the company is developing RNAi therapeutics for the
treatment of a wide range of disease areas, including liver cancers,
hypercholesterolemia, Huntington`s disease, and TTR amyloidosis. The company`s
leadership position in fundamental patents, technology, and know-how relating to
RNAi has enabled it to form major alliances with leading companies including
Medtronic, Novartis, Biogen Idec, Roche, Takeda, Kyowa Hakko, and Cubist. To
reflect its outlook for key scientific, clinical, and business initiatives,
Alnylam established "RNAi 2010" in January 2008 which includes the company`s
plan to significantly expand the scope of delivery solutions for RNAi
therapeutics, have four or more programs in clinical development, and to form
four or more new major business collaborations, all by the end of 2010. Alnylam
is a joint owner of Regulus Therapeutics, a joint venture focused on the
discovery, development, and commercialization of microRNA therapeutics. Founded
in 2002, Alnylam maintains headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more
information, please visit http://Hwww.alnylam.com.

About KOKEN

Koken is a leading company in atelocollagen and celebrated the Golden
Anniversary of the founding this year. Koken`s unique technology using
proteolytic enzyme yields water-soluble collagen, atelocollagen. Atelocollagen
has extremely low antigenicity and is remarkably compatible with and stable to
other material. Koken has also found applications of atelocollagen in various
types of drug delivery systems (DDS), especially for nucleic acid. Based on this
character of atelocollagen, Koken has launched in vivo siRNA transfection kit
for research use "AteloGene®" worldwide. In addition, Koken is selling
high-quality siRNA for research use, "AteloSiLence®" in Japan. Koken has
headquarters in Mejiro, Tokyo. For more information, please visit
http://www.kokenmpc.co.jp.

Alnylam Forward-Looking Statement

Various statements in this release concerning Alnylam`s future expectations,
plans and prospects, constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of
the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these
forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including
the company's ability to successfully research and develop products and to
successfully prosecute and enforce its patents around the world, as well as
those risks more fully discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of its most
recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q on file with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent Alnylam`s
views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing its views
as of any subsequent date. Alnylam does not assume any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Cynthia Clayton (Investors), 617-551-8207
or
Yates Public Relations
Kathryn Morris (Media), 845-635-9828

Copyright Business Wire 2009