ALNY - Alnylam to target abdominal obesity after research data on gene mutation

• Alnylam Pharmaceuticals ( NASDAQ: ALNY ), a biotech focused on RNAi therapeutics, announced on Wednesday its plans to pursue a cardiometabolic candidate based on mutations in the INHBE gene after a study led to supportive data.
• The development plan follows the research of Alnylam ( ALNY ) and a group of its partners which indicated that the INHBE gene is linked to protection against abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome.
• The study based on sequencing data from more than 360K people in UK Biobank was published in the 13th issue of Nature Communications.
• According to the study, the rare mutations in the liver-expressed INHBE gene were linked to a lower waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (WHRadjBMI), the company said, referring to a measure of abdominal fat that is associated with type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.
• With results indicating the potential of INHBE as a target for the treatment of cardiometabolic disease, Alnylam ( ALNY ) expects to leverage its IKARIA platform to develop a candidate for INHBE and its gene product, Activin E.

• Read: Seeking Alpha contributor Stephen Simpson highlights that Alnylam ( ALNY ) is ahead of a key data readout.

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