When Alnylam, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biopharmaceutical company, began operations in the Netherlands in late 2017, it rented a small office in Amsterdam to house just one employee. Today, the company employs 65 people from around the world in spacious new offices near the European Medicines Agency (EMA) that serve as its international hub for finance, quality control, supply chain and commercial operations.
Alnylam is a pioneer in RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics – a revolutionary approach to treating diseases which “silences” the genes that cause or contribute to them. Based on Nobel Prize-winning science, RNAi therapeutics have the potential to improve the lives of people afflicted with rare and more common diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases and neurological diseases.
Since the company’s first commercial medicine was approved in 2018, four more Alnylam-developed medicines have been approved, with more work being done to develop new therapies to treat a broad spectrum of difficult-to-treat diseases. As the company pursues clinical trials for these therapies in the Netherlands, Alnylam’s focus aligns perfectly with the Dutch life sciences & health ecosystem and its goal to “build a healthier world together.”
Connectivity and collaboration drive location decision
Although Alnylam already had a footprint in the U.K. by 2017, the company wanted a presence on the European continent to grow its business there and beyond. Paris, Frankfurt and Munich were in the running, but Amsterdam rose to the top, recalled Marco Fossatelli, Country Manager BeNeLux, Alnylam Netherlands BV. The Netherlands’ connectivity, in every sense of the word, is what drove the decision.
“The Netherlands is such small country with a high density of academia, experts in diseases, government agencies and life science companies that it makes it easy to connect to the ecosystem that exists to foster innovation,” he said, adding: “Collaboration is in the Dutch DNA.”
Home to thousands of life sciences companies, including several hundred biotech and biopharma companies, the Netherlands offers one of the densest, most innovative life sciences & health ecosystems in the world. The country’s innovation potential is fueled by world-class health and research institutes as well as countless public-private partnership opportunities between academia, industry and government. Moreover, the Netherlands’ strategic position in Europe and advanced logistics capabilities make it ideal for managing international supply chains.
Strong pull for talent
Alnylam’s Amsterdam location also proved to be a strong pull for growing its workforce, Fossatelli commented. “People want to live and work here. Life is good here. The schools are good. The costs are competitive. But we’re also well-connected with our international airport and highways, which makes it easy for our employees to go home to visit family and friends.”
That combination has helped the company’s Dutch hub attract talent from all over the globe, with more than 20 nationalities now represented among its 65 employees. “Our workforce here mirrors the lively, diverse and dynamic place that the Netherlands is,” Fossatelli noted.
“It’s a real melting pot, which has existed for centuries in the Netherlands,” he continued. “Everyone speaks English, and there is a welcoming and open feeling that allows easy collaboration and exchange of innovative ideas.”
A warm Dutch welcome
When Alnylam was first looking into the Netherlands as a possible location, the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) and Health~Holland were very supportive and welcoming, Mr. Fossatelli said. “They introduced us to the right people, they showed us around and they helped us find our way through a new country and system.”
Those strong relations continue to this day, he observed. “Every so often we hear from NFIA asking if there is anything the agency can do to support our continued growth. It was definitely the right decision for our company to land in the Netherlands.”
