Between January 2005 and May 2008, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s stock rose nearly 400%. That incredible value creation was driven by alliances with Novartis AG, Roche, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., which together brought in about a half billion dollars in up-front cash and equity payments. [See Deal][See Deal][See Deal]
But after 2008, Alnylam’s lifeblood of pharmaceutical partnerships – largely struck as non-exclusive alliances that for years gave the illusion of a bottomless well of opportunity – began to dry up. A lack of pipeline progress internally and high-profile doubts about large investments in RNA interference by Novartis and Roche sent Alnylam’s value into a tailspin. The company basically traded at cash through 2010 and 2011. (See Also see "Roche Exits RNAi, Raising Questions For Stalwarts " - In Vivo, 1 December, 2010..) In September 2010, around the time Novartis declined its option to non-exclusively license the entire Alnylam platform, the biotech restructured, reducing head count by 30%
