12 Questions with Phil Davey

Phil Davey is the General Manager at Alnylam for the UK, Ireland, the Nordics, and Canada. With over 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, spanning large pharma and biotech, he brings extensive experience in commercial strategy, operational leadership, and patient access. Davey is focused on advancing innovative RNAi therapies while fostering a collaborative culture and navigating the complexities of global and local healthcare systems.

What are the main responsibilities of your current role? As General Manager at Alnylam, my principal focus is on ensuring the innovative medicines we develop reach the patients who need them most across the UK, Ireland, the Nordics, and Canada. A key part of this is overseeing smooth operational performance across these markets, guiding regulatory, clinical, quality, and commercial functions.

An important, but sometimes undervalued, part of this role is ensuring that Alnylam is continually attracting, retaining, and empowering great people – building a culture where teams can thrive independently and deliver their best work. The UK affiliate is Alnylam’s second-largest hub outside the US, and fostering a collaborative, high-performing culture is central to our success. I am always inspired by the passion and innovation of our team.

What is your background prior to this role and how did it prepare you for the work you do now? I’ve spent over 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, working across large pharma, mid-sized, and small biotech organisations – gaining experience from scale-up to start-up.

I began as a sales representative, which was tough, but a great start, giving me a fantastic grounding in the reality of what healthcare stakeholders really need. I also spent three years in the US, which provided me with valuable international experience. This means I’m always mindful of finding the right balance between setting a bold global vision, but thinking through the realities of local delivery.

So, having a variety of roles and seeing this field from the perspective of many different stakeholders has been central for me.

What is your proudest professional accomplishment to date? Without a doubt, this has to be when we can finally launch new medicines.

I’ve been fortunate to be involved in many of these over my career, spanning new products and indications. Launch represents that vital bridge between science and human health.

Of course, they are rarely straightforward – particularly with today’s access and reimbursement challenges – but overcoming those barriers to bring innovation to patients is deeply rewarding.

Knowing that families may have more hope as a result of those efforts is incredibly motivating – it’s why most of us do what we do.

What are some of the biggest ongoing challenges in your work? The primary challenge is ensuring a medical innovation reaches all the patients it could potentially benefit. No matter how good it is, that is always fraught with complexities.

We are fortunate to be living through a medical revolution, with breakthroughs in gene editing, gene silencing, oncology, obesity – you name it – that are transforming care.

Yet, the science is advancing faster than the health systems in place to deliver it to patients. Many health systems and governments simply haven’t kept pace, putting in place the processes and funding to take full advantage of these advances. Too often, structures remain built around older models of care. Things are getting better but much more has to be done.

This is not about bashing government or health authorities; we have to be practical and work alongside these bodies to find solutions. At Alnylam, we’ve made strong progress by collaborating closely with authorities and stakeholders to navigate these challenges together – helping to ensure our innovative medicines reach patients more efficiently. As an industry we have to ensure we are demonstrating not only the scientific potential, but also the societal value of innovation – to show that it’s fundamentally worth investing in.

What are your biggest short-term goals for this year and next year? Our top priority is access. As we look to enter new therapy areas in the UK, we need to ensure our therapies continue to reach patients successfully and equitably.

Alongside that, we’re focused on supporting Alnylam’s next wave of growth. We’re on a strong trajectory as an organisation, and it’s exciting to have so much promise in our pipeline; however, we have to think about how we help the company grow today while preparing for what comes next – always keeping patient outcomes at the heart of what we do.

What are your biggest long-term goals for five years or 10 years from now? Looking ahead, our focus is on continuing to grow Alnylam’s impact as a leading RNAi company. Our gene-silencing platform allows us to target disease-causing genes with a high degree of precision, improving our chances of success from early development through to approval.

With five medicines already launched and a strong pipeline in progress, we’re in an exciting phase of expansion – bringing innovative treatments to more patients around the world.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the industry right now? At a macro level, we’re navigating one of the most unstable geopolitical environments in decades, and that uncertainty inevitably affects our industry.

In the UK, we have a world-class life sciences sector, but it’s under pressure, with low medicine spend, high clawback rates, and an NHS still recovering from the pandemic.

Innovation is accelerating rapidly, yet, healthcare systems aren’t always ready to take full advantage of it. Finding ways to align innovation with system readiness will define the success of the next generation of medicines.

In your opinion, what has changed most about the industry since the start of your career? The biggest change has been the science. The medicines we’re now able to bring to patients are something I couldn’t have imagined 20 years ago, and I have huge admiration for the scientists who’ve made that possible.

I began my career selling blood pressure medications – simple combinations that served their purpose, but innovation has since transformed care. We’ve moved from a world of ‘pills for life’ to one of targeted, precision medicines that can prevent disease. The journey from discovery to impact is long, but deeply rewarding.

What do you think pharma will look like in 15 years? 50 years? In the years ahead, I believe treatment will become far more targeted, preventative, and less invasive for patients. The way medicines are delivered will also evolve. For example, there are therapy areas where we can move from daily doses to long-acting therapies, often addressing multiple conditions at once.

Advances such as newborn screening will allow earlier identification of disease risk and intervention before symptoms appear. In 20 years, I think healthcare will be almost unrecognisable compared with today – and that’s an exciting prospect.

What advice do you have for your pharma industry peers? Keep doing good work and always keep patients at the heart of everything you do.

A large majority of us in pharma have never physically treated a patient, so, it’s vital to show deep empathy and respect for those who do – clinicians, administrators, and access professionals alike. Without their dedication, our medicines wouldn’t reach anyone. We’re all ultimately working towards the same goal, and the more we collaborate and trust one another across the system, the greater our ability to create meaningful change.

What are your hobbies? What do you do in your free time? I’m a father of three – aged 11, 10, and four – so, they keep me very busy. I love spending time with my wife and kids, whether that’s family time or taking them to school, clubs, and activities. When I get time for myself, I enjoy playing golf and staying active. I also follow a lot of sport – football, rugby, cricket, and golf. I’m a big Liverpool fan. Time with family and a bit of sport is how I recharge and stay grounded.

If you could have any job other than the one you have now, what would you choose? I’d probably go into politics, which might surprise some! Like pharma, politics can get a bad reputation, but, at its best, it’s about making a positive difference to society. I’m really driven by wanting to do good, and I think that motivation applies whether it’s healthcare or public service. There’s a real opportunity to have a wide-reaching, lasting impact in both.

Connect with Phil Davey on LinkedIn.

Corp-UKI-00012 20th November 2025