NEW YORK, Sept. 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Alnylam” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ:  ALNY) and certain of its officers.   The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and index under 18-cv-08845, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons other than Defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired Alnylam securities between February 22, 2017 and July 19, 2018, both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants’ violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.

If you are a shareholder who purchased Alnylam securities between February 22, 2017, and July 19, 2018, both dates inclusive, you have until November 26, 2018, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class.  A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com.   To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. 

[Click here to join this class action]

Alnylam is a global biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics based on RNA interference (“RNAi”).  RNAi is a naturally occurring biological pathway within cells for sequence-specific silencing and regulation of gene expression.  Alnylam purports to harness the RNAi pathway to develop a potential new class of innovative medicines, known as RNAi therapeutics.  RNAi therapeutics are comprised of small interfering RNA, or siRNA, and function upstream of today’s medicines by potently silencing messenger RNA, or mRNA, that encode for disease-causing proteins, thus preventing them from being made.

In December 2017, Alnylam submitted its first new drug application and marketing authorization application for Onpattro (patisiran) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). Patisiran is an intravenously administered RNAi therapeutic targeting transthyretin (“TTR”) for the treatment of hereditary ATTR amyloidosis. It is designed to target and silence specific messenger RNA, potentially blocking the production of TTR protein before it is made.

In August 2018, patisiran received FDA approval for the treatment of the polyneuropathy of hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis in adults, having been reviewed by the FDA under Priority Review and previously granted Breakthrough Therapy and Orphan Drug Designations. 

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Alnylam overstated the efficacy and safety of its Onpattro (patisiran) lipid complex injection; and (ii) as a result, Alnylam’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On September 12, 2018, Nomura/Instinet analyst Christopher Marai stated that a review document released by the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research “highlights greater risk” with respect to certain trials of Alnylam’s ONPATTRO (patisiran) lipid complex injection, as well as “a limited market opportunity in TTRcardiomyopathy, and a potential platform safety risk.”  Specifically, Marair asserted that “[t]he document highlights FDA reviewers’ concerns over cardiac deaths in patients treated with ONPATTRO and suggests that the drug should be limited to patients with polyneuropathy only (i.e., not patients with cardiac manifestations and polyneuropathy).  Furthermore, we believe some comments on the lack of cardiac efficacy call into question claims made by [Alnylam] in this regard.” 

On this news, Alnylam’s stock price fell $5.60 per share, or over 5.5%, to close at $94.75 per share on September 12, 2018.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com

CONTACT:
Robert S. Willoughby
Pomerantz LLP
rswilloughby@pomlaw.com
888-476-6529 ext. 9980

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