$25m settles Alnylam-Dicerna trade secret case

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc said it entered into a settlement agreement with Dicerna Pharmaceuticals “resolving trade secret misappropriation claims against Dicerna, and counterclaims asserted by Dicerna, in pending litigation in the Superior Court of Middlesex County, Massachusetts.”

Alnylam said the settlement also resolves claims asserted by Dicerna in a lawsuit against Alnylam in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Each party has agreed to dismiss all pending litigation between the companies, with prejudice.

“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,” said Alnylam.

“The settlement does not include any license to Alnylam’s GalNAc conjugate intellectual property (IP) or any licenses to any other IP from either party.

“Nor does the settlement include any admission of liability or wrongdoing by either company. All other settlement terms are confidential.”

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals said: “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.”

Dicerna said it will pay Alnylam 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 GalXC technology-based partnerships,” added Dicerna.

“This settlement excludes any amounts received by Dicerna from its existing collaboration with Boehringer-Ingelheim.

“Neither company admits wrongdoing.”

Source: IP strategy news

Editor: dora