Medicines Co, Alnylam Pharma enter alliance

France's Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac, reacts to journalists questions, as he leaves the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. The Paris prosecutors office says it is opening a preliminary investigation into allegations that France's budget minister hid money from French tax authorities in offshore accounts. A statement Tuesday from the prosecutors office said it also intends to open a probe for defamation based on a complaint over the allegations filed by Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Apartment approvals have easily outstripped stand alone houses over the past year.
FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012 file photo, a protester wears glasses with the euro and dollar symbols painted on the lenses before protesting the conservative government's handling of the economic crisis and to demand fresh elections, in Madrid. Many had hoped that 2012 would be the year when the global economy finally regained its vigor, but the three largest economies: The United States, China and Japan struggled, while the 17 countries that use euro endured a third painful year in their financial crisis and slid into recession, and emerging economies slowed. (AP Photo/Paul White, File)
FILE - In this May 12, 21012 file photo, protesters pack the Puerta del Sol plaza in central Madrid. Worldwide growth was slack again in 2012. The global economy grew just 3.3 percent, down from 3.8 percent in 2011 and 5.1 percent in 2010, the International Monetary Fund estimates. (AP Photo/Paul White, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event at Cheyenne Sports Complex in Las Vegas. In 2012, Obama vaulted to a re-election victory over Mitt Romney, who had staked his bid on the weakest U.S. economic rebound since the Great Depression and had pledged to slash taxes. Yet Obama won despite the highest unemployment rate of any president seeking re-election since World War II. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama acknowledges House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio while speaking to reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. A dreaded package of tax increases and deep spending cuts to domestic and defense programs loomed over the economy in 2012 as Congress and the White House negotiated the budgetary steps needed to avoid it. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

France's Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac, reacts to journalists questions, as he leaves the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. The Paris prosecutors office says it is opening a preliminary investigation into allegations that France's budget minister hid money from French tax authorities in offshore accounts. A statement Tuesday from the prosecutors office said it also intends to open a probe for defamation based on a complaint over the allegations filed by Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

France's Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac, reacts to journalists questions, as he leaves the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. The Paris prosecutors office says it is opening a preliminary investigation into allegations that France's budget minister hid money from French tax authorities in offshore accounts. A statement Tuesday from the prosecutors office said it also intends to open a probe for defamation based on a complaint over the allegations filed by Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Apartment approvals have easily outstripped stand alone houses over the past year.
FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012 file photo, a protester wears glasses with the euro and dollar symbols painted on the lenses before protesting the conservative government's handling of the economic crisis and to demand fresh elections, in Madrid. Many had hoped that 2012 would be the year when the global economy finally regained its vigor, but the three largest economies: The United States, China and Japan struggled, while the 17 countries that use euro endured a third painful year in their financial crisis and slid into recession, and emerging economies slowed. (AP Photo/Paul White, File)
FILE - In this May 12, 21012 file photo, protesters pack the Puerta del Sol plaza in central Madrid. Worldwide growth was slack again in 2012. The global economy grew just 3.3 percent, down from 3.8 percent in 2011 and 5.1 percent in 2010, the International Monetary Fund estimates. (AP Photo/Paul White, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event at Cheyenne Sports Complex in Las Vegas. In 2012, Obama vaulted to a re-election victory over Mitt Romney, who had staked his bid on the weakest U.S. economic rebound since the Great Depression and had pledged to slash taxes. Yet Obama won despite the highest unemployment rate of any president seeking re-election since World War II. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama acknowledges House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio while speaking to reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. A dreaded package of tax increases and deep spending cuts to domestic and defense programs loomed over the economy in 2012 as Congress and the White House negotiated the budgetary steps needed to avoid it. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Medicines Co, Alnylam Pharma enter alliance

Print Page Updated: 06:24:19 PM, Mon 04 February 2013

PARSIPPANY, N.J. (AP) — Drugmaker Medicines Co. is entering an alliance with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. to help develop the biopharmaceutical company's RNA interference drugs that could potentially help lower cholesterol.

Alnylam's drugs use RNA interference, or RNAi, technology. RNAi therapies work by turning off or silencing disease-causing genes.

Under terms of the exclusive alliance, Medicines will make a $25 million upfront cash payment to Alnylam. There is also the potential for up to $180 million in development and commercial payments if certain milestones are met.

Medicines is based in Parsippany, N.J. Alnylam is based in Cambridge, Mass.

Medicines' stock fell 42 cents to $30.11 in afternoon trading, while shares of Alnylam declined 57 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $23.67.

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