Alnylam Reports Promising Interim Results From Phase 1 Study On Hypertension Treatment

(RTTNews) - Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALNY) said that an interim Phase 1 study results of ALN-AGT suggesting a dose-dependent and sustained reduction in blood pressure persisting up to 3 months after a single subcutaneous dose are promising and may offer a novel path to securing better treatment adherence and improved blood pressure control. Further study to establish the safety and clinical efficacy of the approach seems warranted.

ALN-AGT is a subcutaneous investigational RNAi therapeutic targeting liver-expressed angiotensinogen (AGT) for the treatment of hypertension.

ALN-AGT was shown to be generally well tolerated, with no treatment-related serious adverse events or study discontinuations.

Compared to placebo, patients treated with ALN-AGT experienced dose-dependent reductions in serum AGT — the sole precursor of all angiotensin peptides, including the potent vasoconstrictor angiotensin (Ang) II.

In the 200 mg dose cohort, the mean reduction of AGT at 8 weeks was 94.9 +/- 1.6 percent.

Reductions of more than 90 percent persisting through 12 weeks after single doses of 100 or 200 mg were observed, with up to 97.6 percent AGT knockdown at 200 mg. The durability of AGT knockdown supports the potential for once quarterly dosing and possibly even less frequent dosing.