The Alnylam Story: Lessons Learned During 14 Years of Helping Grow a Platform Company

Akshay Vaishnaw joined Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc in 2006 as VP Clinical Research and has subsequently served in various R&D roles with increasing responsibility. Dr Vaishnaw is currently the President of R&D. At Alnylam, Dr Vaishnaw leads the discovery and development of their pipeline of RNAi therapeutics, which includes the recently approved compound, Onpattro® for hATTR amyloidosis with peripheral neuropathy. Prior to 2006, he was at Biogen as Senior Director, Translational Medicine. In his seven years at Biogen, Dr Vaishnaw was involved in many aspects of clinical research and business development, and led the effort for the approval of alefacept (Amevive™) for chronic plaque psoriasis. Dr Vaishnaw received his MD from the University of Wales College of Medicine, UK, and PhD from the University of London, UK, in Molecular Immunology. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, UK. Dr Vaishnaw is a member of the Board of Directors for Editas Medicine Inc and Scholar Rock Inc. From 2014-2018, he served as a Board Member of Visterra Inc.