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John Maraganore

Former CEO, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

Search every verified John Maraganore interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. John Maraganore, the founding CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, discussed his 20-year tenure at the company in a recent podcast interview, reflecting on the challenges of building a biotech firm. He described how a failed phase three trial for revusiran caused the company to lose half its value in a single day, and credited a portfolio strategy—rather than a single-drug focus—as key to Alnylam's recovery and eventual approval of Onpattro in 2018. Maraganore stated that Alnylam raised over $7.5 billion and spent $5 billion before bringing its first drug to market, only becoming cash flow positive after going public in 2025. Maraganore also discussed his current work using AI to identify individuals at elevated lifetime risk for heart attack or stroke, combined with an RNAi-based intervention given once a year to lower LDL cholesterol and blood pressure. He emphasized that making patient impact should be the primary goal of biotech companies, asserting that financial success follows from that focus. He attributed his drive partly to his upbringing as the child of Greek immigrant parents.

Recent appearances

Notable quotes

“Will let me give you some numbers to start. I mean, it we ended up raising over 7 and 1/2 billion dollars. It took us 5 billion dollars before we brought our first drug to market. And the company only went public last year in 2025, which was 23 years after it got started. So, in terms of cash flow, it only just now turned cash flow positive. And so, the company depends largely on a balance sheet of cash, which it eit”

“The policy environment needs to be a more favorable environment for the future success of our industry — some policies are frankly unhelpful and could erode U.S. leadership in biotechnology globally.”

“I actually think mRNA vaccines are a remarkable innovation — they saved us from the pandemic. It's a little bit sad to see political backlash against them that is unfounded scientifically, but this too shall turn around.”

“We're able to fund this level of work ourselves and we don't take that for granted — we're doing it because we believe in the mission, though this is just the beginning and we'll bring in venture and crossover investors later. At Alnylam we raised $7.5 billion over 20 years, so we know we will need additional capital and partners as we scale.”

“There's no doubt this is one of the toughest environments for fundraising we've seen in the industry, arguably ever. But that raised bar can be a positive — it concentrates talent and forces founders to be much sharper about value‑creation and business plans.”

“I am passionate on this topic. I think that it's the wonderful thing we have created here in R&D discovery and then commercialization of breakthroughs and innovation and I believe that we have a system that works, that's been working. Hatch-Waxman specifically ensures that the drugs that we create today are ultimately free for our kids and for our kids' kids and that is because we have a limited period of time to rea”

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