Alnylam breaks ground on new manufacturing Facility in Norton, Massachusetts

The facility will supply RNAi therapeutics for Alnylam’s clinical and commercial needs. The location, selected in close collaboration with Commonwealth and local officials, demonstrates Alnylam’s ongoing commitment to Massachusetts. Construction on the 200,000 square foot manufacturing facility is expected to complete in 2018 and it will initially employ approximately 150 new full-time employees.

"This flagship multi-product facility represents a key next step in Alnylam’s transition toward a commercial stage company. Increased manufacturing capability is vital to support our rapidly growing pipeline of ten clinical stage programs, two of which are in Phase 3 trials," said John Maraganore, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam.

"The Massachusetts talent pool, along with strong support from state and local partners in the Baker Administration, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, and the Town of Norton were critical to our ultimate decision to establish this manufacturing facility in Norton, MA."

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony are Charlie Baker, the Governor of Massachusetts, Kimberly Haugstad, Executive Director of the Hemophilia Federation of America, Travis McCready, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and Lisa Nelson, Senior District Representative to U.S. Congressman Joseph Kennedy III.

"Alnylam’s decision to locate their biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Massachusetts speaks to our Commonwealth’s success in supporting an innovative economic environment and talented workforce," said Governor Charlie Baker. "We are excited about Alnylam’s choice and congratulate them as they continue to grow and advance investigational new medicines in the Commonwealth’s life sciences sector, creating new jobs and patient treatments."

"The development of Alnylam’s manufacturing facility in Norton is further evidence that the State of Massachusetts can support the needs of integrated biotechnology companies such as Alnylam, through the entire biopharmaceutical life cycle, from discovery to development to manufacturing to sales and marketing," said Travis McCready, President and Chief Executive Officer, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.

"The Hemophilia Federation of America is dedicated to serving the needs of patients and families affected by hemophilia and other rare bleeding disorders," said Kimberly Haugstad, Executive Director of the Hemophilia Federation of America. "With the development of this manufacturing facility, Alnylam demonstrates its commitment and responsibility to the patient community as it strives to provide innovative new treatment options."

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.