Alnylam Elects Michael W. Bonney to Its Board of Directors

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:ALNY), a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today the election of Michael W. Bonney to its Board of Directors. Mr. Bonney has served as Chief Executive Officer of Cubist Pharmaceuticals and as a member of its Board of Directors since June 2003. His experience prior to that includes leadership positions in successful biotech and pharmaceutical companies including Biogen Idec and Zeneca Pharmaceuticals (now AstraZeneca).

“Mike is a recognized leader in the development and growth of successful, commercial-stage biopharmaceutical companies. This expertise will be very valuable to our Board, as we continue to build Alnylam as a leading biotechnology company, ultimately commercializing products from our pipeline of RNAi therapeutics,” said John Maraganore, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam. “Given our robust clinical progress and our planned transition to a commercial company in the coming years, Mike’s addition to our Board comes at an opportune time as we advance RNAi therapeutics to patients.”

“I am excited to join the Board of Alnylam, a highly innovative biotechnology company, and a pioneer in advancing an entirely new class of high-impact medicines with RNAi therapeutics. The progress Alnylam has made in its clinical efforts has yielded very encouraging results,” said Mike Bonney. “I look forward to working with the management team and Board to contribute to the company’s value creation strategy and execution.”

Michael W. Bonney has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Cubist Pharmaceuticals and as a member of its Board of Directors since June 2003. He is retiring from his CEO position and transitioning to non-executive Chair of the Board effective December 31, 2014. From January 2002 to June 2003, he served as Cubist’s President and Chief Operating Officer. From 1995 to 2001, Mike held various positions of increasing responsibility at Biogen, including Vice President, Sales and Marketing from 1999 to 2001. While at Biogen, he built the commercial infrastructure for the launch of Avonex. Prior to that, Mike held various positions of increasing responsibility in sales, marketing and strategic planning at Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, ending his 11-year career there serving as National Business Director. Cubist won a Catalyst Award in 2013 for its outstanding record of diversity on its board, senior leadership team and staff, corporate contributions of volunteers, and funding to support STEM outreach initiatives advancing girls and women. Mike received the MASSBio Innovative Leadership Award in 2010. Mike earned a B.A. in Economics from Bates College where he now serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He is a Director of NPS Pharmaceuticals, a PhrMA Board Member (and former Board Member of BIO’s Health Section Governing Body), and a Trustee of the TEKLA funds, which include the H&Q Healthcare Investors and H&Q Life Sciences Investors funds.

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. In late 2014, Alnylam launched its pipeline growth strategy for RNAi therapeutics in three strategic therapeutic areas (STArs): Genetic Medicines, Cardio-metabolic Disease, and Hepatic Infectious Disease. Alnylam’s Genetic Medicine STAr investigational pipeline includes: patisiran (ALN-TTR02) targeting transthyretin (TTR) for the treatment of TTR-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR) in patients with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP); revusiran (ALN-TTRsc) targeting TTR for the treatment of ATTR in patients with TTR cardiac amyloidosis, including familial amyloidotic cardiomyopathy (FAC); ALN-AT3 targeting antithrombin (AT) for the treatment of hemophilia and rare bleeding disorders (RBD); ALN-CC5 targeting complement component C5 for the treatment of complement-mediated diseases; ALN-AS1 targeting aminolevulinic acid synthase-1 (ALAS-1) for the treatment of hepatic porphyrias including acute intermittent porphyria (AIP); ALN-AAT targeting alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) for the treatment of AAT deficiency-associated liver disease; ALN-TMP targeting TMPRSS6 for the treatment of beta-thalassemia and iron-overload disorders; ALN-GO1 targeting glycolate oxidase (GO) for the treatment of primary hyperoxaluria type 1 (PH1); and other programs yet to be disclosed. Alnylam’s Cardio-metabolic Disease STAr investigational pipeline includes: ALN-PCSsc targeting PCSK9 for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia; ALN-ANG targeting angiopoietin-like 3 (ANGPTL3) for the treatment of mixed hyperlipidemia and hypertriglyceridemia; ALN-AC3 targeting apolipoprotein C-3 (apoC3) for the treatment of hypertriglyceridemia; ALN-AGT targeting angiotensinogen (AGT) for the treatment of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), including preeclampsia; and other programs yet to be disclosed. Alnylam’s Hepatic Infectious Disease STAr investigational pipeline includes: ALN-HBV targeting the hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome for the treatment of HBV infection; ALN-HDV targeting the hepatitis delta virus (HDV) genome for the treatment of HDV infection; ALN-PDL targeting programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) for the treatment of chronic liver infections; and other programs yet to be disclosed. 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 revusiran 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 STAr pipeline growth strategy, and its plans regarding commercialization of RNAi therapeutics, 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 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 manage operating expenses, 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.