Silence Therapeutics and Alnylam in patent dispute

Silence Therapeutics has started legal action against Alnylam and The Medicines Company, in a dispute over intellectual property rights.

Silence, which develops RNA-based therapeutics that inhibit specific genes and halt the production of disease-causing proteins, has asked the UK high court to determine whether it is entitled to supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) on a number of its rivals’ products. An SPC extends the duration of certain rights beyond the expiry of a patent.