Alnylam
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY), a
leading RNAi therapeutics company, today announced the appointment of
David-Alexandre “DA” Gros, M.D. to the position of Senior Vice
President, Chief Business Officer. Dr. Gros joins Alnylam with extensive
experience in the pharmaceutical industry and in healthcare investment
banking and consulting. At Alnylam, he will be responsible for the
company’s corporate and business development, finance, corporate
communications, and investor relations functions. In addition, Dr. Gros
will be joining the Alnylam Management Board.
“We are in a very exciting period of growth at Alnylam, as we aim to
execute on our ‘Alnylam 2020’ goals and transition from a late-stage
clinical development company to become a multi-product, commercial stage
company with a sustainable development pipeline,” said John Maraganore,
Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam. “DA brings to Alnylam an
impressive array of experiences in the pharmaceutical industry and in
healthcare investment banking and management consulting. In addition,
his background in corporate strategy will prove invaluable as we execute
on our Alnylam 2020 goals. We’re thrilled to have him join our team.”
“Alnylam is a remarkably innovative company, leading the advancement of
RNAi therapeutics as a new class of innovative medicines to address
major unmet needs for a wide range of diseases globally, with a history
of building significant alliances,” said Dr. Gros. “I’m particularly
excited to join the team during this pivotal period, in capitalizing on
the company’s potential and contributing to its continued success.”
Most recently, Dr. Gros was Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy
Officer at Sanofi, where he was a member of the Executive Committee and
the Global Leadership Team. His responsibilities included leading
corporate strategy, business development and licensing, mergers and
acquisitions, alliance management, and structured investments including
the corporate venture fund. During his tenure, he oversaw the execution
of over 100 successful transactions and the launch of Sanofi’s corporate
venture activities, and he was closely involved in the company’s key
alliances with Alnylam and Regeneron. Prior to Sanofi, he held
management positions with a focus on the pharmaceutical industry in
investment banking at Centerview Partners and Merrill Lynch & Co, and in
consulting at McKinsey & Co. Dr. Gros holds an M.D. from The Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business
School, and a B.A. from Dartmouth College.
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. Alnylam’s
pipeline of investigational RNAi therapeutics is focused in 3 Strategic
Therapeutic Areas (STArs): Genetic Medicines, with a broad pipeline of
RNAi therapeutics for the treatment of rare diseases; Cardio-Metabolic
Disease, with a pipeline of RNAi therapeutics toward genetically
validated, liver-expressed disease targets for unmet needs in
cardiovascular and metabolic diseases; and Hepatic Infectious Disease,
with a pipeline of RNAi therapeutics that address the major global
health challenges of hepatic infectious diseases. In early 2015, Alnylam
launched its “Alnylam 2020” guidance for the advancement and
commercialization of RNAi therapeutics as a whole new class of
innovative medicines. Specifically, by the end of 2020, Alnylam expects
to achieve a company profile with 3 marketed products, 10 RNAi
therapeutic clinical programs – including 4 in late stages of
development – across its 3 STArs. The company’s demonstrated commitment
to RNAi therapeutics has enabled it to form major alliances with leading
companies including Merck, Medtronic, Novartis, Biogen, Roche, Takeda,
Kyowa Hakko Kirin, Cubist, GlaxoSmithKline, Ascletis, Monsanto, The
Medicines Company, and Genzyme, a Sanofi company. 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 about
Alnylam’s pipeline of investigational RNAi therapeutics, 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 expectations regarding its “Alnylam 2020” guidance, Alnylam’s
views with respect to the potential for RNAi therapeutics, 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 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 be replicated
or continue to occur in other subjects or in additional studies or
otherwise 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.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150608005389/en/
Copyright Business Wire 2015