Alnylam to buy Merck's Sirna subsidiary
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY) will acquire the Sirna Therapeutics Inc. subsidiary of Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) for $25 million in cash up front. Alnylam will also issue Merck 2.5 million Alnylam shares, which the companies said are valued at $150 million. The deal includes Sirna's IP and RNAi assets, including preclinical compounds, chemistry, siRNA-conjugate and other delivery technologies. Merck is eligible to receive $105 million in milestones per product on the preclinical compounds it is transferring to Alnylam, and up to $10 million in milestones on Alnylam products covered by Sirna's patent estate. The pharma is eligible for single-digit royalties on all products. The deal is expected to close this quarter. Merck -- which acquired Sirna for about $1.1 billion in 2006 -- said the deal is consistent with its strategy to reduce emphasis on platform technologies. ...