Alnylam, a leader in RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics, will utilize the AGD dataset to inform development of 'gene silencing' medicines

Members leverage AI-powered dataset to accelerate pharma R&D, and ensure that disease-impacting discoveries benefit all people

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN), and Nashville Biosciences, LLC (NashBio),  announced Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) (Alnylam) as a member of the Alliance for Genomic Discovery (AGD). Alnylam, a pioneer in RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics, will utilize the AGD clinical genomic database to derive real-world insights and accelerate drug target discovery.

"We welcome Alnylam to the AGD as our members continue to leverage data that fuels innovation in novel therapeutics to improve lives of patients everywhere," said Todd Christian, senior vice president of Services, Arrays and Genomic Access at Illumina. "Alnylam's decision to join the alliance speaks to the immense value of this resource that combines powerful scale and depth of sequencing with clinical data quality and diverse ancestral representation to advance the critical work of our biopharma partners."

Alnylam is the ninth member of the alliance, joining AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK, Merck, and Novo Nordisk. Alnylam's partnership will further strengthen the AGD clinical genomic database, enabling additional investment to sequence and analyze a new set of 31,250 whole-genomes to be added to the alliance's already groundbreaking 250,000 whole-genome cohort.

RNAi therapeutics function by "silencing" genes that cause or contribute to disease, working upstream of traditional treatment approaches. The AGD's dataset will provide a valuable resource for Alnylam scientists who hunt for new therapeutic targets.

"We are excited to join the Alliance for Genomic Discovery and contribute to the expansion of this important dataset, while simultaneously mining it for insights," said Paul Nioi, senior vice president of Research at Alnylam. "We rely on human genetics to guide us as we discover and develop RNAi therapeutics with the potential to change medicine. The AGD dataset will bolster our ability to identify therapeutic targets that are relevant to patients from many different backgrounds."

As of March 2025, the AGD completed a major milestone in developing the most comprehensive clinical genomic dataset to date. Making this cohort fully representative—by linking analyzed, ancestrally diverse genomic data with informative longitudinal clinical phenotyping—has been a core priority from the start, both to ensure that discoveries benefit all people, and to uncover insights that are often missed in more homogeneous datasets.

The alliance's pace of sequencing, rapid and secure data analysis, and generation of readily usable insights with DRAGEN™ and Illumina Connected Analytics have surpassed previous large-scale genomic efforts, which typically took three to five years to reach 100,000 sequenced genomes. Large-scale aggregation with DRAGEN Iterative gVCF Genotyper further enhances variant calling accuracy and consistency across diverse populations, enabling deeper insights into rare and complex genetic traits. 

The AGD dataset is already proving valuable to alliance members. Novel therapeutic targets, particularly in autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases, have been identified or validated, with reports published or underway.

"We are thrilled that Alnylam has chosen to join the AGD and help us expand this unique dataset for all members," said Leeland Ekstrom, chief executive officer of NashBio. "Additional data scale, as well as other planned extensions, such as adding proteomics and extracting more clinical phenotypes from the unstructured parts of the linked electronic health records, will accelerate the pace and types of innovation possible with this resource."

This growth in the alliance's membership coincides with its plans to add multiomic layers to its dataset, which will facilitate faster and more efficient target discovery and therapy development. Illumina and NashBio are actively expanding the AGD network to continue building upon current successes, accelerating therapeutic discovery, and creating new standards for clinical R&D pace, cost efficiency, and efficacy.