Full Press Release Details
Agreement Combines Tenaya’s Expertise in Identification and Validation ofGenetic Heart Disease Targets with Alnylam’s Ability to Deliver Transformational Therapeutics
Tenaya to Receive Up to $10 Million in Upfront Payments in Addition to Research Funding and Milestone Payments of Up to $1.13 Billion
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tenaya Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: TNYA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company with a mission to discover, develop and deliver potentially curative therapies that address the underlying causes of heart disease, today announced a research collaboration agreement with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ALNY), the leading RNAi therapeutics company, to discover novel human genetic targets for the potential development of disease-modifying treatments for cardiovascular diseases.
“This multi-target collaboration underscores Tenaya’s commitment to rigorous science and capitalizes on the proprietary capabilities that have contributed to the discovery and development of Tenaya’s pipeline of candidates for cardiovascular conditions,” said Faraz Ali, Chief Executive Officer of Tenaya Therapeutics. “By combining our modality agnostic target identification and validation capabilities with Alnylam’s leadership in RNA interference therapeutics, we have an opportunity to advance candidates for novel genetic targets with the potential to create transformational medicines for patients with heart disease.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Tenaya Therapeutics will validate up to 15 gene targets. Tenaya will receive up to $10 million in the form of an upfront payment, in addition to reimbursement for related costs incurred over the two-year validation term. Alnylam will be responsible for all development and commercialization activities of therapeutics associated with the identified gene targets. Tenaya may be eligible to receive as much as $1.13 billion in development and commercial milestone payments from Alnylam should all novel genetic targets lead to approved therapeutics for cardiovascular disease.
About Tenaya’s Target Identification and Validation CapabilitiesTenaya has established a diverse portfolio of proprietary integrated capabilities to enable modality agnostic target identification and validation anchored in human genetics. These capabilities encompass the use of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) with high throughputin vitroscreening, imaging analysis and machine learning algorithms to identify novel genetic targets, and human engineered heart tissue and preclinicalin vivomodels of human disease to validate and characterize potential product candidates. Collectively, Tenaya’s target identification and validation capabilities have generated more than 150 genetic targets and contributed to the discovery and development of the company’s clinical-stage candidates, including the TN-201 and TN-401 gene therapies and TN-301 small molecule, as well as diverse early-stage programs.
About Tenaya TherapeuticsTenaya Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company committed to a bold mission: to discover, develop and deliver potentially curative therapies that address the underlying drivers of heart disease. Tenaya’s pipeline includes clinical-stage candidates TN-201, a gene therapy forMYBPC3-associated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and TN-401, a gene therapy forPKP2-associated arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). Tenaya has employed a suite of integrated internal capabilities, including modality agnostic target validation, capsid engineering and manufacturing, to generate a portfolio of novel medicines based on genetic insights, including TN-301, a clinical-stage small molecule HDAC6 inhibitor for the potential treatment of heart failure and related cardio/muscular disease, and multiple early-stage programs in preclinical development aimed at the treatment of both rare genetic disorders and more prevalent heart conditions. For more information, visitwww.tenayatherapeutics.com.
Forward Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. Words such as “commitment,” “opportunity,” “potential,” “will,” and “may,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, Tenaya’s commitment to rigorous science; the opportunity to advance candidates for novel genetic targets and potential to create transformational medicines for patients with heart disease under the collaboration; the potential for Tenaya to receive upfront, development and commercial milestone payments, as well as research reimbursement under the collaboration; and statements made by Tenaya’s Chief Executive Officer. The forward-looking statements contained herein are based upon Tenaya’s current expectations and involve assumptions that may never materialize or may prove to be incorrect. These forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to: Tenaya’s ability to achieve the expected benefits from the collaboration; risks associated with the process of discovering, developing and commercializing drugs that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics; Tenaya’s continuing compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements; Tenaya’s ability to raise any additional funding it will need to continue to execute on its business plans, including performing its obligations under the collaboration with Alnylam; unanticipated early termination of the collaboration with Alnylam; Tenaya’s reliance on third parties; Tenaya’s research capabilities and strategy; the loss of key scientific or management personnel; Tenaya’s ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for its platform technology and product candidates; general economic and market conditions; and other risks. Information regarding the foregoing and additional risks may be found in the section titled “Risk Factors” in Tenaya’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2025, and other documents that Tenaya files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and Tenaya assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.