Alnylam Acquires Sirna Therapeutics from Merck for $175M Upfront Payment in Cash, Stock

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

announced Sunday the acquisition of Merck's wholly owned subsidiary Sirna Therapeutics, comprising intellectual property and RNAi assets including pre-clinical therapeutic candidates, chemistry, siRNA-conjugate and other delivery technologies. Under the agreement, in exchange for acquiring the stock of Sirna Therapeutics, Alnylam will pay Merck an upfront payment of $175 million in cash and equity ($25 million cash/$150 million in Alnylam common stock). In addition, Merck is eligible to receive up to $105 million in developmental and sales milestone payments per product, as well as single-digit royalties, associated with the progress of certain pre-clinical candidates discovered by Merck. Merck is also eligible to receive up to $10 million in milestone payments and single-digit royalties on Alnylam products covered by Sirna Therapeutics' patent estate.