Alnylam
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), a leading RNAi therapeutics
company, announced today the expansion of its management team with the
appointments of Karen Anderson as Senior Vice President, Chief Human
Resources Officer; Laurie Keating as Senior Vice President, General
Counsel, and Secretary; and Marko Kozul, M.D., as Vice President,
Strategy.
“We are delighted to welcome Karen, Laurie, and Marko to the Alnylam
team,” said John Maraganore, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam.
“The experience and expertise these individuals bring to Alnylam will be
tremendously valuable as we continue to expand our capabilities and
drive towards commercialization of RNAi therapeutics. Indeed, Karen,
Laurie, and Marko each bring extensive experience, a deep understanding
of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, as well as proven
track records of success, and we are excited to have them on board.”
Karen Anderson comes to Alnylam from Biogen Idec where she served as
Vice President, Human Resources for R&D and Corporate Development. Prior
to Biogen Idec, Karen was the Vice President of Human Resources,
Commercial for Pfizer Inc. covering both Developed Markets and Emerging
Markets. Earlier in her 10-year tenure with Pfizer, Karen supported
Worldwide R&D. Before joining Pfizer, Ms. Anderson spent 6 years at
Baxter, most recently as Global Human Resources Director. Her career as
a human resources leader in the bio-pharma industry began in 1995, when
she joined Bayer as Director of Compensation from her role as an
Associate Consultant with the Hay Group. Ms. Anderson received a Masters
in Organizational Psychology and Development from Bowling Green State
University in Ohio. She earned her Bachelor of Arts with honors in both
Psychology and Labor Relations from York University in Toronto, Canada.
At Alnylam, Ms. Anderson will be responsible for the growth and
advancement of the Alnylam organization, including talent acquisition
and development.
Laurie Bartlett Keating joins Alnylam with more than 25 years of
executive experience at high technology and biotechnology companies.
Prior to joining Alnylam, Ms. Keating served as Senior Vice President,
General Counsel and Secretary of Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company
for 9 years, responsible for setting the company’s global legal,
intellectual property, and corporate quality strategies and priorities.
Prior to Millennium, Ms. Keating was co-founder and the first CEO of
Hydra Biosciences, Inc. Before co-founding Hydra, Ms. Keating served as
an executive at high growth technology companies, including serving as
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Iomega
Corporation, and Sybase, Inc., a software company that grew from a few
hundred to 6,000 employees during Ms. Keating’s tenure on the management
team. Based on her leadership at Sybase, Ms. Keating was named as one of
the 45 most influential in-house lawyers in the United States under the
age of 45. Upon graduating from law school, Ms. Keating practiced law at
McCutchen, Doyle, Brown and Enersen (now Bingham McCutchen) in San
Francisco. Ms. Keating has a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University
of California, Hastings College of the Law, and a Bachelor of Arts in
Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. She is a member
of the Board of Directors of MassBio and the immediate past chair of the
BIO General Counsels Committee. At Alnylam, Ms. Keating will lead the
company’s legal function, including corporate and intellectual property
activities, and will lead the Alnylam’s government affairs efforts. She
will also serve as the Board secretary.
Marko Kozul, M.D. comes to Alnylam from Leerink Partners where he served
as a senior biotechnology analyst for 2 years. Prior to Leerink, he
served as an analyst at ThinkEquity Partners for 2 years and Jefferies &
Company for 5 years. Earlier in his career, he worked as the Research
Director for Variant Medical Consulting Group and as a consultant for
the Medical Referral Source, Inc. Dr. Kozul earned a Bachelor of Science
in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan and an
M.D. from the School of Medicine at International University of the
Health Sciences. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the
American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Association for
Cancer Research, and the American Society of Hematology. In this newly
created role of Vice President, Strategy, Dr. Kozul will be responsible
for the development of product strategy and portfolio management.
About RNAi
RNAi (RNA interference) is a revolution in biology, representing a
breakthrough in understanding how genes are turned on and off in cells,
and a completely new approach to drug discovery and development. Its
discovery has been heralded as “a major scientific breakthrough that
happens once every decade or so,” and represents one of the most
promising and rapidly advancing frontiers in biology and drug discovery
today which was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
RNAi is a natural process of gene silencing that occurs in organisms
ranging from plants to mammals. By harnessing the natural biological
process of RNAi occurring in our cells, the creation of a major new
class of medicines, known as RNAi therapeutics, is on the horizon. Small
interfering RNA (siRNA), the molecules that mediate RNAi and comprise
Alnylam's RNAi therapeutic platform, target the cause of diseases by
potently silencing specific mRNAs, thereby preventing disease-causing
proteins from being made. RNAi therapeutics have the potential to treat
disease and help patients in a fundamentally new way.
About Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Alnylam is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics
based on RNA interference, or RNAi. The company is leading the
translation of RNAi as a new class of innovative medicines with a core
focus on RNAi therapeutics as genetic medicines, including programs as
part of the company’s “Alnylam 5x15™” product strategy. Alnylam’s
genetic medicine programs are RNAi therapeutics directed toward
genetically defined targets for the treatment of serious,
life-threatening diseases with limited treatment options for patients
and their caregivers. These include: patisiran (ALN-TTR02), an
intravenously delivered RNAi therapeutic targeting transthyretin (TTR)
for the treatment of TTR-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR) in patients with
familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP); ALN-TTRsc, a subcutaneously
delivered RNAi therapeutic targeting TTR for the treatment of ATTR in
patients with TTR cardiac amyloidosis, including familial amyloidotic
cardiomyopathy (FAC) and senile systemic amyloidosis (SSA); ALN-AT3, an
RNAi therapeutic targeting antithrombin (AT) for the treatment of
hemophilia and rare bleeding disorders (RBD); ALN-CC5, an RNAi
therapeutic targeting complement component C5 for the treatment of
complement-mediated diseases; ALN-AS1, an RNAi therapeutic targeting
aminolevulinic acid synthase-1 (ALAS-1) for the treatment of hepatic
porphyrias including acute intermittent porphyria (AIP); ALN-PCS, an
RNAi therapeutic targeting PCSK9 for the treatment of
hypercholesterolemia; ALN-AAT, an RNAi therapeutic targeting alpha-1
antitrypsin (AAT) for the treatment of AAT deficiency-associated liver
disease; ALN-HBV, an RNAi therapeutic targeting the hepatitis B virus
(HBV) genome for the treatment of HBV infection; ALN-TMP, an RNAi
therapeutic targeting TMPRSS6 for the treatment of beta-thalassemia and
iron-overload disorders; ALN-ANG, an RNAi therapeutic targeting
angiopoietin-like 3 (ANGPTL3) for the treatment of genetic forms of
mixed hyperlipidemia and severe hypertriglyceridemia; ALN-AC3, an RNAi
therapeutic targeting apolipoprotein C-III (apoCIII) for the treatment
of hypertriglyceridemia; ALN-AGT, an RNAi therapeutic targeting
angiotensinogen (AGT) for the treatment of hypertensive disorders of
pregnancy (HDP), including preeclampsia; and other programs yet to be
disclosed. As part of its “Alnylam 5x15” strategy, as updated in early
2014, the company expects to have six to seven genetic medicine product
candidates in clinical development - including at least two programs in
Phase 3 and five to six programs with human proof of concept - by the
end of 2015. The company’s demonstrated commitment to RNAi therapeutics
has enabled it to form major alliances with leading companies including
Merck, Medtronic, Novartis, Biogen Idec, Roche, Takeda, Kyowa Hakko
Kirin, Cubist, GlaxoSmithKline, Ascletis, Monsanto, and The Medicines
Company. In early 2014, Alnylam and Genzyme, a Sanofi company, formed a
multi-product geographic alliance on Alnylam's genetic medicine programs
in the rare disease field. Specifically, Alnylam will lead development
and commercialization of programs in North America and Europe, while
Genzyme will develop and commercialize products in the rest of world. In
addition, Alnylam and Genzyme will co-develop and co-commercialize
ALN-TTRsc in North America and Europe. In March 2014, Alnylam acquired
Sirna Therapeutics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck. In addition,
Alnylam holds an equity position in Regulus Therapeutics Inc., a company
focused on discovery, development, and commercialization of microRNA
therapeutics. Alnylam scientists and collaborators have published their
research on RNAi therapeutics in over 200 peer-reviewed papers,
including many in the world’s top scientific journals such as Nature,
Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, Cell, New England Journal of
Medicine, and The Lancet. Founded in 2002, Alnylam maintains
headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, please
visit www.alnylam.com.
Alnylam Forward-Looking Statements
Various statements in this release concerning Alnylam’s future
expectations, plans and prospects, including without limitation,
Alnylam’s views with respect to the potential for RNAi therapeutics, its
expectations regarding its “Alnylam 5x15” product strategy, constitute
forward-looking statements for the purposes of the safe harbor
provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these
forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors,
including, without limitation, Alnylam’s ability to manage operating
expenses, Alnylam’s ability to discover and develop novel drug
candidates and delivery approaches, successfully demonstrate the
efficacy and safety of its drug candidates, the pre-clinical and
clinical results for its product candidates, which may not support
further development of product candidates, actions of regulatory
agencies, which may affect the initiation, timing and progress of
clinical trials, obtaining, maintaining and protecting intellectual
property, Alnylam’s ability to enforce its patents against infringers
and defend its patent portfolio against challenges from third parties,
obtaining regulatory approval for products, competition from others
using technology similar to Alnylam’s and others developing products for
similar uses, Alnylam’s ability to obtain additional funding to support
its business activities and establish and maintain strategic business
alliances and new business initiatives, Alnylam’s dependence on third
parties for development, manufacture, marketing, sales and distribution
of products, the outcome of litigation, and unexpected expenditures, as
well as those risks more fully discussed in the “Risk Factors” filed
with Alnylam’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and in other filings that
Alnylam makes with the SEC. In addition, any forward-looking statements
represent Alnylam’s views only as of today and should not be relied upon
as representing its views as of any subsequent date. Alnylam explicitly
disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Copyright Business Wire 2014