The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first drug that combats disease by silencing the genes driving it, the newest technology transforming the arsenal of medicines.
Onpattro, from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., is the first treatment approved to treat nerve damage caused by a genetic disorder that also causes heart and digestive disease and can be fatal. It is based on Nobel Prize-winning research that drugmakers have had a tough time translating into effective medicines.
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