FRANKFURT, March 5 (Reuters) - Roche and partner

Alnylam said on Tuesday their experimental drug against

high blood pressure was shown to work when used in combination

with the standard of care in a phase 2 trial.

Full results of the Phase 2 KARDIA-2 trial, testing the

twice-a-year injection zilebesiran, would be presented at the

American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session in

Atlanta on April 6, Roche said in a statement on Tuesday.

In July last year, Roche agreed to develop and commercialise

Alnylam's zilebesiran to treat hypertension, the leading cause

of cardiovascular disease worldwide.

Roche at the time paid Alnylam $310 million upfront, with

milestone payments lifting the potential deal value to up to

$2.8 billion in a large bet that it can address demand beyond

existing cheap generic blood pressure drugs.