Award Recognizes Commitment to Innovation, Growth, and Leadership in Massachusetts
March 21, 2016 (CAMBRIDGE, MA) – The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio) announced today that John Maraganore, the CEO and a Director of Alnylam, will be honored with the Henri A. Termeer Innovative Leadership Award.
The award, which will be given at the MassBio Annual Meeting on March 31st, recognizes an industry executive who has a strong presence and commitment to growth in Massachusetts, actively supports community-based organizations, contributes to science education to prepare the future workforce, and creates a positive work environment that fosters motivation and collaboration. It is named for longtime Genzyme President and CEO, Henri A. Termeer.
“We are thrilled to honor John Maraganore of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals with the Henri A. Termeer Innovative Leadership Award,” said Robert K. Coughlin, President & CEO of MassBio. “We are proud to recognize John’s commitment to growing in Massachusetts and to leading the global conversation on the value of medical innovation.”
Alnylam has been headquartered in Cambridge, MA since their inception in 2002, and throughout Maraganore’s tenure the company has committed to Massachusetts—and to innovative science—in a big way. Most recently, the company announced in February it will develop a 130,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Norton, Mass. and hire approximately 150 new full-time employees for well-paying jobs across all skill levels. The facility will transform 12 acres of undeveloped land into a state-of-the-art site manufacturing drug substance for use in clinical studies and following regulatory approval, for commercial use. The facility is anticipated to be fully operational in 2018.
The company has recently expanded its footprint in Cambridge as well, leasing 295,000 square feet for a new headquarters and securing a right to expand into the current Sanofi Genzyme building (when that company relocates to another Cambridge location in 2018). Alnylam also leases 3 other properties in Cambridge.
Under John’s tenure, Alnylam has also advanced an entirely new class of innovative medicines – RNAi therapeutics— which have the potential to treat disease in a fundamentally different way. Today the company has a deep pipeline with nine products in the clinic and two products in late-stage testing and, with positive data, expect to file for marketing authorization in late 2017.
Throughout his career, Maraganore has pushed for innovation in the industry. He has been a vocal advocate for the importance of delivering value through medical innovation, and the importance of communicating that value. Maraganore has been a leader in the global conversation on drug pricing and the need to reward risk-taking in the industry.
Maraganore also supports the industry by serving as a director for growing biotech companies like Agios Pharmaceuticals and bluebird bio, and as a member of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) Board and the BIO Executive Committee, the chair of the Emerging Company Section and as co-chair of the Regulatory Environment Committee. Alnylam was also recently named a “Top Place to Work” by The Boston Globe.
Prior to Alnylam, Maraganore served as an officer and a member of the management team for Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Before Millennium he served as Director of Molecular Biology and Director of Market and Business Development at Biogen, Inc. Prior to Biogen, Maraganore was a scientist at ZymoGenetics, Inc., and the Upjohn Company.
Maraganore is the eighth person to receive this award. Past recipients include former EMD Serono President & CEO Fereydoun Firouz; Cubist Pharmaceuticals President & CEO Michael Bonney; Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company President & CEO Deborah Dunsire; Vertex CEO Joshua Boger; Chairman and CEO of PAREXEL International Corporation Josef von Rickenbach; Biogen Idec CEO George Scangos; and Third Rock Ventures Co-Founder Mark Levin.
This year’s award presentation will be held at MassBio’s Annual Meeting on Thursday, March 31, 2016, at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, MA.
To register for the MassBio Annual Meeting, visit www.MassBio.org.
Media can register free of charge by emailing Jessica Roche at Jessica.roche@massbio.org.