Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Medison Pharma Partner to Commercialize iARN Therapeutics in Israel
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Leader of iARN Therapeutics, and Medison Pharma, Israel's Leading Commercial Partner for Innovative Pharmaceuticals , announced today an exclusive agreement to market ONPATTRO ® , the first ever commercialized iARN therapeutic, as well as other experimental therapies under development in Alnylam's iRNA portfolio.
"Our partnership with Medison marks a milestone in our global business expansion and demonstrates our commitment to ensuring access to our medicines for patients with serious rare diseases, no matter where they are," says Theresa Heggie, VP P. Principal and head of Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Canada, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. "Medison has a strong organization and proven track record of placing orphan products on the market, as well as a unique infrastructure to support rare disease patients in Israel, and opens up our potentially transformational therapies, we look forward to
"We are proud to work and collaborate with Alnylam in Israel," said Meir Jakobsohn, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Medison Pharma. "Alnylam's portfolio, which includes ONPATTRO and other potentially breakthrough drugs in the advanced phase of development, will strengthen our portfolio of rare diseases, deliver on Medison's vision and provide innovative treatments to patients in Israel. Patients with hereditary amyloidosis ATTR with polyneuropathy in Israel deserve quick access to pioneering treatments, and we look forward to implementing this, starting with ONPATTRO.
The agreement between Alnylam and Medison includes ONPATTRO, approved in the EU in August 2018 for the treatment of hereditary ATTR amyloidosis in adults with phase 1 or 2 polyneuropathy; givosiran, an advanced phase experimental iRNA therapeutic agent for the treatment of acute hepatic porphyria (ACH); and lumasiran, an advanced phase experimental iRNA therapeutic agent for the treatment of primary hyperoxaluria type 1 (HP1). The use of these drugs is not currently approved in Israel, and givosiran and lumasiran have not yet been approved by any regulatory authority.
