Michelle Werner is a powerhouse in biopharma, balancing the macro and micro environment and tackling venture capital along with the nitty gritty science.
She currently serves as a CEO-partner at Flagship Pioneering, a leading biotech venture capital company, and CEO of Alltrna, a preclinical biotech backed by the VC. But her previous experience boasts some of the biggest names in pharma, including roles at Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca and Novartis. After her entrance into the biotech startup space at Alltrna in 2022, Werner now finds herself at the forefront of development for a novel therapeutic modality using tRNA biology.
Fresh off a $109 million series B funding round from 2023, Alltrna is preparing to advance its “most promising” molecules toward the clinic, leveraging proceeds for next steps. The company’s platform revolves around transfer RNA, or tRNA, which is involved in translating genetic instructions into proteins.
According to the company, many diseases, “stem from the same nonsense mutation, where the code for an amino acid has been mutated into a ’stop’ codon.” Alltrna said tRNA therapeutics could work by reading stop codons and delivering “the desired amino acid, thereby restoring the production of the full-length protein.”
Alltrna makes bold claims that the tRNA technology platform has the potential “to treat thousands of diseases,” but the potential of this emerging class of therapeutics has yet to bear out in the clinic. Alltrna has also yet to disclose its initial disease targets.
“We haven't been specific about the diseases that will be included in the first basket,” Werner said. “However, we are formulating our tRNAs with lipid nanoparticles as part of our first program.”
Alltrna will explore rare genetic liver diseases within its first set of diseases, with the intent of demonstrating the company’s concept, Werner said. Although a preclinical platform is a shift from Werner’s Big Pharma background, her combined personal experience with rare disease and an understanding of the pharma space may be the key to leadership success.
Here, Werner, a 2023 PharmaVoice 100 honoree, reflects on her deep resumé and how her work experience and personal familiarity with rare disease have influenced her career in the startup space.
This interview has been edited for brevity and style.
PHARMAVOICE: With Alltrna developing a preclinical platform, what are some of the biggest differences for you as a leader moving into this space compared to the senior level at some of the big pharmas in your background?
MICHELLE WERNER: At the end of the day, the things that get me really excited are our opportunities to take innovative science and break ground when it comes to that science. And that's something that we're doing here. It doesn't matter that we're a preclinical stage company right now, because those elements are there. And we have that in spades. It's the same in this setting, as it would be perhaps in some of my previous experiences that I've had in later-stage drug development and commercial roles.
What's the why for you? Why did you join Alltrna?
My own personal connection to the rare genetic disease space is a huge motivator for me. When my son was diagnosed with Duchenne [muscular dystrophy] in 2020, it was that catalyst to think about how I [pivot in] a career that I've been able to dedicate mostly to the oncology setting over the 20 years prior to that time, and [where] I've had an opportunity to make a small difference. I understand that there hasn't been as much progress in the rare disease setting as we can be making, and I want the next 20 years of my career to be dedicated to that space because these are patients [who] are just as deserving of innovation as anybody else.
You also have a role with Flagship Pioneering. What's your advice to leaders who wear many hats like you?
I am a CEO-partner at Flagship Pioneering, and that role is really also to enable the broader Flagship ecosystem to be successful.The experiences that I bring to the table can be an asset for other companies as well. And vice versa, I can learn from many others within the ecosystem too. We need to be driving innovation forward. We can't just wait for it to happen.
I've spent a lot of time in Big Pharma where I have been on the cutting edge of science, but I've also been in Big Pharma where we've been in the sort of adjacencies, maybe less novel work. But I think being bold and taking risks is going to make a transformational difference for patients at the end of the day. That's advice that I certainly wish I had embraced earlier in my career and moving forward is going to be fundamentally important.
But I also think it's about being authentic and true to who you really are, and it's taken me up until now to get comfortable with that. Instead of trying to be the leader that somebody else wants me to be, somebody else that I admire, maybe a mentor or sponsor of mine, it's about me being the leader that I can be, that I want to be. That's something all of us can embody, but it comes from having the courage to be true to yourself, authentic to yourself. And being authentic requires vulnerability at times, which isn't comfortable for everybody. But I encourage people to try to get comfortable being vulnerable, because I think that's when we become our best selves.
As you're moving along toward the clinical stage, what are some of the lessons you're learning? What's been new to you?
I think being in a startup environment is newer to me than certainly the types of environments I've had in the past. When we think about events that are taking place, I'm going to call it the macro world,it's really important for me to have an understanding of that and to translate an understanding of that external environment to our relatively small company of 60 employees. Sometimes it takes a little bit more to unpack what's happening in that environment and what it means for us, and how we're using that information or understanding of that environment to help us make strategic choices with our platform and planning for the future. And being able to share that transparently with the team at Alltrna … is something that has been hugely important over the course of the last couple of years so people understand the direction we're going in and the why behind some of the decisions we've made as a company.
What does being part of the PharmaVoice 100 in past years mean to you?
First of all, I'm really honored to have been selected for this recognition. I think there are so many incredible leaders out there, and the PharmaVoice 100 is a great example of inspiring people from very different backgrounds and have achieved so much. They're an inspiration for me, and I hope that me being part of the PharmaVoice 100 can also demonstrate that you can be a successful leader of a pharma and biotech company as a patient advocate, as a parent of somebody who has a disability or a rare disease, and turn all of that into something that is truly unique that could have a big impact. And I hope that can be an inspiration to others.
Editor’s note: Nominations for the 2024 PharmaVoice 100 are open. Know a standout leader in the life sciences who’d be a good fit? Let us know using our nomination form by May 5.
