Source: Linkedin
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., the leading RNAi therapeutics company has announced the appointments of two accomplished biotech executives, Masako Nakamura as Senior Vice President, Head of Asia, and Jing L. Marantz, M.D., Ph.D., as Senior Vice President, Head of Medical Affairs.
"We are pleased to have Masako and Jing join us at an exciting crossroads in Alnylam’s journey from an R&D to a commercial organization. We look forward to their insights on expanding our global footprint and ensuring patients worldwide have access to the innovative medicines we are developing," said John Maraganore, Ph.D. Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam.
"Extending Alnylam's operations into the Asian region, particularly Japan, is a critical step in preparing to launch RNAi therapeutics globally," commented Ms. Nakamura. "Leveraging my expertise in introducing and commercializing orphan drugs in Asian and global markets, I look forward to charting the Company's course from a research and development organization to a multi-product commercial organization and improving the lives of patients with rare diseases one patient at a time."
In this role, Ms. Nakamura will be responsible for the strategic direction and execution of Alnylam’s operations in the Asian region with an initial focus on Japan. This will include building capabilities and sequencing the potential commercial launches in Asia of patisiran in 2019 and givosiran and lumasiran thereafter.
Ms. Nakamura comes with over 25 years of rare disease/orphan drug biotech industry experience. Most recently, she served as Head of Asia & Vice President/General Manager, Japan at Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, K.K. Previously, Ms. Nakamura held several senior positions at Genzyme Corporation including the roles of Vice President, International Marketing and Strategic Planning, and General Manager, Japan, where she led the expedited approvals and successful launches of several rare disease drugs. Prior to her tenure at Genzyme, she held commercial leadership roles at Genetics Institute within the Hemophilia and Oncology space.
After the announcement of appointment of Jing L. Marantz, Senior Vice President, Head of Medical Affairs, Dr. Marantz said “It’s a pleasure to join Alnylam, a company with a patient-focused mindset and a robust patient access philosophy,” said Dr. Marantz. “Integration of clinical and commercial strategy is critical to seamless entry of novel medicines into the rare disease marketplace, while keeping patient needs top of mind. I hope to offer many learnings to help facilitate this integration.”
In her role, Dr. Marantz will be responsible for the strategic direction and oversight of Alnylam’s Medical Affairs expertise area. She and her team will serve as a key interface between clinical and commercial activities, responsible for building and executing scalable global medical affairs strategies across product life cycles. Under her leadership, the Medical Affairs organization will continue to be highly patient focused and responsible for providing scientific and medical expertise and support for Alnylam’s products and pipeline to all external stakeholders. It will also help establish Alnylam as a trusted scientific partner with medical and patient communities.
Dr. Marantz brings over 18 years of pharmaceutical experience with an extensive background in medical affairs. Most recently, she was Vice President, Global Medical Affairs, Complement Franchise at Alexion after serving as Head of U.S. Medical Affairs, responsible for three marketed rare disease products across hematology, nephrology, metabolic, and neurology indications. Previously, she was the Global Medical Lead for TECFIDERA, Biogen’s flagship product in neurology. Prior to her role at Biogen, Dr. Marantz held senior leadership positions at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals and Millennium Pharmaceuticals.
