Business Corpus: Alnylam Grabs First Approval For New Class Of Rare Disease DrugsAlnylam Pharmaceuticals grabbed its first Food and Drug Administration approval on Friday for a rare-disease treatment that rivals an experimental therapy from Ionis Pharmaceuticals. The post Alnylam Grabs First Approval For New Class Of Rare Disease Drugs appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.

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Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) grabbed its first Food and Drug Administration approval on Friday for a rare-disease treatment that rivals an experimental therapy from Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS).

The FDA approved the drug patisiran, branded as Onpattro, which treats peripheral nerve damage that results from hereditary ATTR amyloidosis. ATTR is potentially fatal and there previously were no approved treatments for it.

Patients with the condition have a genetic mutation that prevents a form of protein from staying in its normal structure. This leads the protein to accumulate throughout the body, causing widespread damage.

Treating The Nerve Damage

Alnylam's treatment uses a technology called RNA interference to treat the nerve damage. Onpattro uses RNA interference to silence a portion of the RNA involved in creating the abnormal proteins. This could help treat an estimated 50,000 people worldwide with the disease.

Ionis, too, is working on a treatment for the disease.

Shares of Alnylam were halted on the news. Prior to the halt, shares were up 3.3% to 97.38 in afternoon action on the stock market today.

More to follow.

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The post Alnylam Grabs First Approval For New Class Of Rare Disease Drugs appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.