UPDATE 2-Alnylam's gene-silencing drug cuts blood pressure in mid-stage trial
(Adds detail on drug's efficacy in paragraph 2, analyst comment in paragraph 5)
Sept 7 (Reuters) - Alnylam Pharmaceuticals said on Thursday its experimental gene-silencing therapy helped significantly reduce high blood pressure in patients in a mid-stage trial.
The therapy, zilebesiran, helped reduce the average systolic blood pressure - which builds up in arteries as the heart beats - by 15 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) over a 24-hour period in the third month of the study.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a common chronic illness, affecting over 1.2 billion people globally. It leads to an increased risk of complications such as strokes and heart attacks.
Analysts have said Alnylam's therapy needs to show a benefit in people whose high blood pressure is not controlled by existing drugs in order to differentiate itself in the crowded market for hypertension treatments.
The trial data reinforces the potential for zilebesiran to offer "new possibilities in a field of medicine that has seen limited innovation in nearly 20 years," said Simon Fox, program lead for the drug's development.
The trial was testing zilebesiran against a placebo in nearly 400 patients with untreated hypertension or who were on stable therapy with one or more anti-hypertensive medications.
There was also a significant improvement in blood pressure in the sixth month after six months compared to placebo, one of the secondary goals of the study, Alnylam said.
The company in July entered a partnership with Roche , under which the Swiss pharmaceutical giant would get exclusive commercialization rights outside the United States and joint rights within the country, while Alnylam would receive an upfront payment of $310 million.
Alnylam's drug uses the company's RNA interference technology, which works by "silencing" or turning off specific genes that cause or contribute to a particular disease.
(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
