STAT+: Alnylam defends heart disease drugs after failure of AstraZeneca’s Wainua

AstraZeneca's Wainua failed a trial in the heart condition ATTR-CM, leading some analysts to interpret the miss as a sign that RNAi silencers—the drug class Alnylam sells—offer no added benefit over stabilizers, or that stabilizers are superior.

Alnylam is now mounting a defense of its silencers, claiming its drugs maintain value and that a key trial has a better design. The defense has implications for its marketed drug Amvuttra and its next-generation treatment nucresiran.