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Accelerating the Future of RNAi Drug Discovery with AI
Alnylam and Inceptive are combining RNAi expertise and advanced AI models to accelerate the design of next-generation RNAi therapeutics.
September 2, 2026
Innovation has always been at the core of Alnylam’s mission to transform the lives of patients through RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics. For more than two decades, we have leveraged new technologies that we believe can accelerate drug discovery and development—from novel delivery chemistries and human genetics to innovative manufacturing approaches. Today, artificial intelligence (AI) represents the next frontier in that journey.
To further advance scientific innovation and accelerate the discovery of transformational medicines, Alnylam has formed a strategic collaboration with Inceptive, a pioneer in applying generative AI to drug development.
The collaboration will integrate Inceptive’s advanced AI foundation models with Alnylam’s industry-leading RNAi discovery engine to accelerate the discovery of novel therapeutics and support our pipeline expansion goals under the Alnylam 2030 strategy.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Inceptive to push the boundaries of what is possible in the discovery of RNAi medicines,” said Yvonne Greenstreet, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam. “Inceptive stands apart as one of the most visionary companies working at the intersection of AI and biology. It is led by pioneers of the AI revolution and driven by an ambitious mission to fundamentally reinvent how RNA medicines are designed. Together, we have an extraordinary opportunity to accelerate the creation of transformative medicines with a speed, ingenuity, and sophistication that simply has not been possible before.”
Combining Alnylam's RNAi Platform with Advanced AI for Drug Development
The collaboration brings together two complementary strengths:
Alnylam's RNAi Platform
- An industry-leading R&D engine that has delivered six approved RNAi medicines
- More than 20 years of proprietary siRNA expertise and screening data
- Deep scientific knowledge and proven capabilities in RNAi drug discovery and development
Inceptive's AI Foundation Models
- Advanced AI models built for designing sequence-based medicines like RNAi therapeutics
- Models that can generalize across therapeutic programs and continuously improve
- AI-driven approaches that uncover biological patterns and optimize therapeutic design
Together, these capabilities have the potential to power a new era of RNAi drug discovery, building on Alnylam’s leadership in rational drug design. By uncovering deeper patterns in biology, AI has the potential to help unlock insights that move us beyond known rules and toward the discovery of entirely new possibilities for and beyond RNAi medicine design.
A conversation about the potential of AI in RNAi drug discoveryEarly Results Demonstrate the Potential of AI in RNAi Drug Discovery
Joint exploratory work between Alnylam and Inceptive helped establish confidence in the partnership.
Inceptive's AI foundation models generated meaningful biological insights within weeks using relatively small datasets to characterize siRNA molecules—the active ingredient in RNAi therapeutics. Unlike traditional computational approaches that often require extensive retraining, Inceptive's models are designed to learn broader biological patterns and apply those insights across multiple therapeutic applications.
“Most drug design still works through a process of trial and error,” said Jakob Uszkoreit, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Inceptive. “Together, we're not just accelerating drug discovery; we're changing the way we understand and improve life.”
Advancing the Future of AI-Driven Drug Discovery
The collaboration is designed to accelerate progress in nucleic acid-based drug design by applying AI to some of the most complex challenges in siRNA discovery.
The companies will jointly explore opportunities to:
- Model target mRNAs to inform therapeutic design
- Explore novel chemical modification patterns to improve potency and efficacy
- Predict top-performing therapeutic candidates in preclinical models
- Improve research productivity and help prioritize promising molecules for advancement
By combining Alnylam's expertise and data with Inceptive's AI capabilities, the collaboration aims to improve the efficiency of drug design and accelerate the discovery of innovative RNAi medicines.
Expanding the Role of AI in Drug Development
This collaboration underscores Alnylam’s commitment to strategically deploying AI where it can create true impact for patients, advancing drug discovery and the development of RNAi therapeutics.
By bringing together Alnylam's leadership in RNAi therapeutics and Inceptive's AI expertise, we aim to accelerate the design of next-generation RNA interference medicines and expand the possibilities of AI-enabled drug development.
Ultimately, our goal is to deliver transformational therapies to patients in need faster.
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