Alnylam to Expand Global Footprint with New European Office in Maidenhead, UK
September 20 2016 - 2:30AM
Business Wire
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:ALNY), the leading RNAi
therapeutics company, today announced the expansion of its global
footprint with the opening of a new development and commercial hub
in Maidenhead, UK. In anticipation of substantial growth across
Alnylam over the next five years, the office opens with a core
Clinical Development, Regulatory Affairs, and Commercial team and
space for an additional 100 employees.
“Since our inception in 2002, Alnylam has pioneered new and
innovative potential treatments for challenging diseases. This
effort has yielded a robust clinical pipeline with 10 programmes in
development across our three Strategic Therapeutic Areas or STArs,”
said Akshay Vaishnaw, Executive VP of R&D and Chief Medical
Officer at Alnylam. “We’re thrilled to be expanding our global
presence in the United Kingdom and Maidenhead in particular. This
important new office will play a critical role in advancing our
cutting-edge investigational RNAi therapies toward regulatory
approval and launch in European markets to benefit patients with
life-threatening diseases as quickly as possible.”
An office in Maidenhead allows Alnylam to support company growth
in Europe, through its access to highly-skilled individuals, and
proximity to scientific centres and regulatory agencies.
“With its strong academic and clinical research sector, as well
as its universal health service and regulatory bodies constantly
striving to be more streamlined and efficient, the UK has a lot to
offer as a development hub for innovative medicines,” added Brendan
Martin, General Manager for UK & Ireland at Alnylam. “Our
investment here signals a trust that the UK community will continue
to treat this mission with the urgency and importance it
deserves.”
Alnylam’s progress with its clinical programmes in the UK to
date has been in large part due to the support and contributions of
numerous expert collaborators at many outstanding Phase 1 units and
academic sites across the UK.
The expansion is being marked with a celebration at the new
Maidenhead office. Speaking at the event are the Worshipful the
Mayor of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Councillor
Mrs. Sayonara Luxton, Steve Bates, CEO of the BioIndustry
Association, and Luke Pembroke, Haemophilia patient and Youth
Ambassador for the UK Haemophilia Society.
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
commercialisation 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 programmes - 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 Ionis, Novartis, Roche,
Takeda, Merck, Monsanto, The Medicines Company, and Sanofi Genzyme.
In addition, Alnylam holds an equity position in Regulus
Therapeutics Inc., a company focused on discovery, development, and
commercialisation 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.
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Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(Investors and
Media)Christine Regan Lindenboom, 617-682-4340or(Investors)Josh
Brodsky, 617-551-8276
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