Background​

Since its inception in 2002, Corporate Responsibility (CR) has been a guiding principle for Alnylam, a leading, global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of RNA interference therapeutics. In 2019, as the company continued to grow and mature, it launched a process to increase the sophistication of its CR approach and reporting.

In 2020, the company finalized and launched a new strategic CR Framework, governance structure, and theme—“Accepting Challenges to Improve the Health of Humanity”—to guide its work. This theme builds upon a commitment to tackling unprecedented and complex challenges, taking courageous action, and using business as a force for good. The framework organized CR efforts into five interconnected, stakeholder-related focus areas: patients, science, employees, communities, and planet, each led by an employee working group with direction from a cross-functional CR Committee reporting to the executive leadership team and board of directors.

Alnylam’s first fifty-page CR Summary 2020 provided investors, employees, and other stakeholders with a cross-enterprise view of the company’s CR/ESG priorities, accomplishments, practices, and future business and social commitments. This included sharing new information about diversity, equity and inclusion, environmental practices, patient support programs, and clinical trials, among other areas.

During 2021, Alnylam performed a CR Materiality Analysis to further identify the business-related issues most important to key internal and external stakeholders.

Alnylam’s 2021 CR Report applied increased rigor throughout the development process. It uses materiality to further focus content, is aligned with SASB and GRI frameworks, and includes more metrics, data, and targets. Highlights include information on:

• Company-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plan
• Employee and patient support programs, including COVID response, workplace safety, and mental health
• Third-party verified environmental benchmark data
• New processes and tools to increase enrollment of diverse populations in rare disease clinical trials
• Launch of the Alnylam Challengers new social impact program
• New programs focused on female leadership
• Enhancements to employee affinity groups (ERNs)