Topic: How To Invest

Dear Pat: Thank you for all of the great advice over the years. I’d like your opinion of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Thank you.

Article Excerpt

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., $73.82, symbol ALNY on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 84.7 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion; www.alnylam.com), develops drugs based on RNA interference (RNAi). Unlike traditional treatments, RNAi suppresses the expansion of specific genes associated with certain diseases. This process won a Nobel Prize in 2006, but no company has successfully launched a treatment using this technology. Recently, Alnylam reported positive clinical trial results for ALN-PCSsc, a treatment for high cholesterol. Alnylam and its partner, the Medicines Company, plan to begin Phase I trials in the next few weeks. In Phase I trials, 20 to 80 healthy volunteers are selected to assess the new drug’s safety, tolerability and possible side effects. Phase II trials involve groups of 20 to 300 people; these tests examine how well the drug works and continue Phase I safety assessments. When a new drug fails, it usually occurs during Phase II. Phase III studies are the strictest scientific trials; they’re conducted by two or more clinical research centres on…