public traded as nasdaq alny industry pharmaceutical founded 2002 headquarters 300 third st. floor 3 cambridge ma usa key people john maraganore ceo barry greene president coo akshay vaishnaw cmo david alexandre gros cbo number of employees 369 2016 1 website alnylam.com alnylam pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery development and commercialization of rna interference rnai therapeutics for genetically defined diseases . the company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in cambridge massachusetts . in 2016 forbes included the company on its 100 most innovative growth companies list . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 therapeutic concept 2 products 3 references 4 external links history edit in 2002 alnylam was founded by phillip sharp paul schimmel david bartel thomas tuschl john kennedy clarke and phillip zamore and john maraganore was named ceo . 2 3 4 the company was named after alnilam a star in orion s belt . the spelling was modified to make it unique . 5 in 2003 alnylam merged with the german pharmaceutical company ribopharma ag . the newly formed company also received 24.6 million in funding from private equity firms . 6 7 on february 27 2004 alnylam pharmaceuticals filed for an ipo . 4 8 the company raised 26 million and began trading as alny on the nasdaq stock exchange . 9 in 2005 the company partnered with medtronic to develop drug device combinations to treat neurodegenerative disorders . 10 alnylam partnered with biogen idec to discover and develop potential treatments of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in 2006 . 11 in july 2007 alnylam entered into a nonexclusive alliance with the swiss drug company hoffmann la roche in which alnylam received 331 million upfront in exchange for access to its technology platform . 12 in september 2007 alnylam partnered with isis pharmaceuticals to found the company regulus therapeutics a company focused on discovery development and commercialization of microrna therapeutics . 13 in 2009 alnylam formed alliances with cubist pharmaceuticals and kyowa hakko kirin to market a drug developed to treat the respiratory syncytial virus . 14 alnylam expanded its previous collaboration with medtronic to include the chdi foundation in its huntington s disease focused research in 2010 . 15 in 2011 alnylam and glaxosmithkline partnered together to develop rnai technology enhancing vaccine production . 16 17 alnylam entered into a 10 year alliance with monsanto in 2012 in order to develop biotech solutions for the farming industry by using natural molecules and developing them for use in crop protection . 18 19 20 in october 2012 the company formed a partnership with sanofi genzyme to develop and commercialize a treatment for transthyretin mediated amyloidosis a hereditary disease in asia . 21 in february 2013 alnylam formed a partnership with the medicines company to develop and commercialize a drug to treat a genetic form of high cholesterol . 22 in july 2013 during a phase i trial alnylam demonstrated statistically significant reduction of a protein called transthyretin or ttr and demonstrated human efficacy with intravenous and subcutaneous modes of administration . 23 in 2014 sanofi genzyme acquired a 12 percent stake in alnylam and increased its rights to several of the company s drugs for 700 million . in a separate transaction alnylam announced that it had purchased merck & co. s sirna therapeutics for 25 million cash and 150 million in stock . 24 25 in 2016 the company purchased land in norton massachusetts to build a manufacturing facility . 26 27 therapeutic concept edit main article rna interference most drug discovery seeks molecules which associate with a target associated with a disease and interfere with its function thus remediating the disease at a molecular level . examples include small molecule hiv protease inhibitors which are taken orally and via the bloodstream make their way to cells infected with the hiv virus and block a key enzyme virally encoded enzyme hiv protease by occupying its active site thereby refusing access of a key viral component and preventing a key step in the hiv virus life cycle scission of the hiv polyprotein . a different approach targets the production of a protein required for the development of the disease . rnai was discovered to be a natural mechanism for silencing genes through cleavage and degradation of mrna first discovered in c. elegans in 1998 by andrew fire and craig mello . 28 genes encode the information necessary for cells to synthesize proteins and proteins made abnormally cause many human diseases . when a mutant gene is silenced the cell stops making the abnormal protein specified by that gene potentially improving the course of the disease . in 2001 alnylam founders began using small interfering rnas known as sirnas to silence genes by targeting mrna in mammalian cells . 29 products edit in 2016 alnylam pharmaceuticals had 18 potential treatments 30 in various development stages across three strategic therapeutic areas stars genetic medicine cardio metabolic disease and hepatic infectious disease . in 2016 the company had two candidates in phase iii studies patisiran a treatment targeting transthyretin ttr for the treatment of ttr mediated amyloidosis attr in patients with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy fap and revusiran for the treatment of familial amyloidotic cardiomyopathy fac . 31 references edit annual report form 10 k . united states securities and exchange commission . february 12 2016 . retrieved september 22 2016 . a b most innovative growth companies 100 alnylam pharmaceuticals . forbes . may 2016 . retrieved september 22 2016 . alnylam pharmaceuticals . crunchbase . retrieved september 22 2016 . a b hollmer mark march 8 2004 . cambridge bio startup alnylam files for ipo . boston business journal . retrieved september 22 2016 . dolgin elie march 9 2016 . what s in a biotech name how drug startups choose their name . stat . retrieved september 22 2016 . naik gautam july 7 2003 . ribopharma alnylam announce merger . the wall street journal . retrieved september 22 2016 . alnylam ribopharma merge notch 24.6 million in financing . boston business journal . july 7 2003 . retrieved september 22 2016 . alnylam pharmaceuticals inc. alny ipo . nasdaq . may 28 2004 . retrieved september 22 2016 . fodor kate october 11 2004 . biotechs put initial public offerings on hold . the scientist . retrieved september 22 2016 . medtronic alnylam to seek treatments . memphis business journal . february 9 2005 . retrieved september 22 2016 . biogen idec and alnylam partner in rnai drug deal . boston business journal . september 21 2006 . retrieved september 22 2016 . greil anita july 10 2007 . roche bets on gene research . the wall street journal . retrieved september 22 2016 . hutton david june 2011 . surf s up for micrornas . drug discovery news . retrieved september 22 2016 . roush wade january 9 2009 . alnylam cubist will cooperate on rnai drug for lung infections . xconomy . retrieved september 22 2016 . taylor nick november 8 2010 . alnylam medtronic & chdi form rnai delivery collaboration . in pharma technologist . retrieved september 22 2016 . weintraub arlene november 1 2011 . alnylam and glaxo partner on rnai for vaccine production . xconomy . retrieved september 22 2016 . gsk taps alnylam tech for faster vaccine production . fierce pharma . november 3 2011 . retrieved september 22 2016 . weintraub arlene august 28 2012 . alnylam inks 29m deal with monsanto for new bio tools for farmers . xconomy . retrieved september 22 2016 . macron doug september 6 2012 . monsanto alnylam form 29m alliance to apply rnai to agriculture . genomeweb . retrieved september 22 2016 . alnylam and monsanto form strategic alliance . businesswire . august 28 2012 . retrieved september 22 2016 . reidy chris october 22 2012 . alnylam genzyme form alliance . the boston globe . retrieved september 22 2016 . pollack andrew february 4 2013 . medicines co. buys cholesterol drug rights . the new york times . retrieved september 22 2016 . fidler ben 2013 07 11 . exome alnylam shares boom on early data for subcutaneous rna drug . xconomy online . retrieved 4 september 2013 . bennett simeon january 13 2014 . sanofi to pay alnylam 700 million for rare disease drugs . bloomberg . retrieved september 22 2016 . stanton dan january 13 2014 . alnylam buys merck s sirna tech biz as sanofi inks 700m alliance . in pharma technologist . retrieved september 22 2016 . stanton dan february 17 2016 . alnylam lays down plans for commercial rnai manufacturing plant . in pharma technologist . retrieved september 22 2016 . weisman robert february 11 2016 . alnylam buys norton site for 200m drug manufacturing plant . boston globe . retrieved september 22 2016 . hopkin michael october 2 2006 . rnai scoops medical nobel . nature . retrieved september 22 2016 . about rnai alnylam . www.alnylam.com . alnylam pharmaceuticals inc. . biocentury . retrieved september 22 2016 . alnylam provides update on rnai therapeutics pipeline . zacks . january 13 2016 . retrieved september 22 2016 . external links edit alnylam on clinicaltrials.gov retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title alnylam pharmaceuticals & oldid 740775379 categories pharmaceutical companies of the united statescompanies listed on nasdaq navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 23 september 2016 at 06 08 . text is available under the 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