Healthcare Industry News: Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals
News Release - July 24, 2007
Alnylam Expands Management Team with New Appointments
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(HSMN NewsFeed)--Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY ), a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today announced the expansion of the management team with the appointment of three individuals to key positions. The company named Philip Chase to the position of Vice President, Legal; Eric Raichle to the position of Vice President, Human Resources; and Jason Rhodes to the position of Vice President, Business Development."We are extremely pleased to be able to attract such highly qualified individuals to Alnylam and are delighted to welcome Phil, Eric, and Jason to our team," said John Maraganore, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam. "Each of these individuals brings extensive experience and a proven track record of success. Their depth of knowledge and understanding of our industry will be extremely valuable as we continue our efforts to build a top-tier biopharmaceutical company founded on RNAi."
Philip Chase
Vice President, Legal
Mr. Chase comes to Alnylam with over 10 years of legal experience, with a focus in the biotechnology industry. Prior to joining Alnylam, Mr. Chase served as Vice President and General Counsel at RenaMed Biologics. Before that, Mr. Chase served as Vice President and General Counsel of EPIX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and played an integral role in the merger of EPIX and Predix Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc. Mr. Chase also served as Chief Corporate Counsel at Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. Prior to moving into the biotechnology industry, Mr. Chase worked at the law firms of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, and Shearman & Sterling LLP. He received his J.D. degree from Columbia University School of Law. Mr. Chase will be responsible for all legal functions outside of intellectual property at Alnylam and will report to Barry Greene, Alnylam's Chief Operating Officer.
Eric Raichle
Vice President, Human Resources
Mr. Raichle joins Alnylam with over 20 years of global human resources experience with expertise in employee relations, talent management, communication and organizational development. He has contributed to the success of several public and private companies including Bain & Company, Digitas LLC, and most recently served as the Director of Human Resources at Alkermes, Inc., a Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical company. He holds a B.A. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Suffolk University. Mr. Raichle, also reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, will be overseeing the company's human resource efforts.
Jason Rhodes
Vice President, Business Development
Mr. Rhodes brings broad business and financial expertise to Alnylam. During his 16 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, he has played central roles in numerous partnering and investment transactions. He has also worked on commercial projects including the launch of the blockbuster oncology drug Taxotere® and the design and restructuring of Wyeth's sales force. He joins Alnylam from Fidelity Biosciences, the biotech venture capital arm of Fidelity Investments, where he was a partner and a founder of the group. While there, he had an active role in building a number of private biopharmaceutical companies, including Microbia, FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Mersana Therapeutics, Inc., and Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in History from Yale University. Mr. Rhodes will be leading the company's business development team and activities, reporting to Alnylam's President and Chief Executive Officer.
About Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Alnylam is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics based on RNA interference, or RNAi. The company is applying its therapeutic expertise in RNAi to address significant medical needs, many of which cannot effectively be addressed with small molecules or antibodies, the current major classes of drugs. Alnylam is leading the translation of RNAi as a new class of innovative medicines with peer-reviewed research efforts published in the world's top scientific journals including Nature, Nature Medicine, and Cell. The company is leveraging these capabilities to build a broad pipeline of RNAi therapeutics; its most advanced program is in Phase II human clinical trials for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. In addition, the company is developing RNAi therapeutics for the treatment of influenza, hypercholesterolemia, and liver cancers, amongst other diseases. The company's leadership position in fundamental patents, technology, and know-how relating to RNAi has enabled it to form major alliances with leading companies including Merck, Medtronic, Novartis, Biogen Idec, and Roche. The company, founded in 2002, maintains global headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.alnylam.com.
Alnylam Forward-Looking Statements
Various statements in this release concerning Alnylam's future expectations, plans and prospects, 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 risks related to: Alnylam's approach to discover and develop novel drugs, which is unproven and may never lead to marketable products; Alnylam's ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; obtaining, maintaining and protecting intellectual property utilized by Alnylam's products; Alnylam's ability to enforce its patents against infringers and to defend its patent portfolio against challenges from third parties; Alnylam's ability to obtain additional funding to support its business activities; Alnylam's dependence on third parties for development, manufacture, marketing, sales and distribution of products; the successful development of Alnylam's product candidates, all of which are in early stages of development; obtaining regulatory approval for products; competition from others using technology similar to Alnylam's and others developing products for similar uses; Alnylam's dependence on collaborators; and Alnylam's short operating history; as well as those risks more fully discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of its most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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 does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Source: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
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