CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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"
"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.
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Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Cynthia Clayton, 617-551-8207
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