Alnylam CEO: US could stock flu drug in 2-3 years

BOSTON (Reuters) - Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALNY.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) could have an avian flu drug ready for a U.S. stockpile in two to three years if regulators agree to expedited development for emergency use, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday.

The biotechnology company announced earlier Tuesday it has joined with Swiss drug maker Novartis AG (NOVN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (NVS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to develop flu treatments based on Alnylam's RNA interference (RNAi) technology, a hot area of research for "silencing" disease-causing genes.

The company plans to talk with the Food and Drug Administration about testing any compounds under rules for emergencies such as a feared flu pandemic, or in case of a bioterror attack, Chief Executive John Maraganore said at the Reuters Biotechnology Summit in Boston.

In those cases, the government may stockpile a treatment before the usual human trials are completed, and some requirements for human testing may be relaxed.

"When you start going at emergency use and the bioterrorism act, you start looking at a timeline that could be in the two to three year horizon," Maraganore said when asked when a new flu drug could be ready for use.

Maraganore stressed that was the best-case scenario, and that the company had not yet discussed a development plan with the FDA. For the usual three phases of human testing, it could take five to seven years to bring a flu medicine to the market, he said.

U.S. officials have voiced support for speeding development of flu treatments as the H5N1 avian flu virus spreads through poultry in Southeast Asia, Europe and Africa. Experts fear the virus could mutate into a highly lethal form that spreads quickly among people, sparking a global pandemic.

Alnylam could start earning revenue from a new flu treatment if government officials decided to add it to the U.S. emergency stockpiles.

"Certainly selling a product at some margin on top of the cost ... would be feasible in that type of time period," Maraganore said.  Continued...