Dyne Therapeutics is a clinical-stage muscle disease company dedicated to advancing innovative life-transforming therapeutics for people living with genetically driven diseases. The foundation of our efforts is our proprietary FORCE™ platform, which we designed to overcome the limitations of muscle tissue delivery and advance modern oligonucleotide therapeutic candidates. We have assembled an exceptional team of employees focused on fostering a differentiated culture and working towards changing the futures of patients with rare muscle diseases.
We have prioritized our corporate responsibility efforts, and these focus areas are consistent with leading Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) frameworks, including the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). The following summarizes our efforts:
Exceptional team fostering a differentiated culture
At Dyne we are committed to attracting, retaining and developing our employees (Dynamos) through comprehensive initiatives centered on enhancing engagement in our business and culture. As of the end of 2022, we employed approximately 120 Dynamos.
We leverage a variety of networks, including our own Dynamos, to recruit potential candidates and have an equitable process to evaluate for roles based on qualifications as well as fit within our organization. New employees also benefit from a robust onboarding program that includes a comprehensive online platform accessible from the moment that a candidate accepts their offer to prepare new Dynamos for their first day and beyond. After the first day of in-person orientation, employees utilize onboarding modules, including information on Dyne’s platform, pipeline, benefits and culture. One-on-one meetings with Dynamos across the business are scheduled prior to an employee’s arrival to ensure they 
feel welcomed and are familiar with colleagues and their areas of expertise. In addition, new employees work closely with their manager to plan and execute on performance and development goals.
Beyond onboarding, professional development takes on many forms at Dyne. We encourage Dynamos to undertake stretch roles, projects and assignments to learn as part of cross-functional teams. In 2022, we offered over 12 different development courses and coaching totaling over 80 hours of formal development opportunities across a number of subject areas, including manager effectiveness, embracing accountability, building trust, communicating and influencing without authority, embracing change, coaching for development, delegating, and assessing performance. At Dyne, we prioritize regular feedback and hold “Dyne Development Discussions (3D)” during one week each quarter. We set aside time for these “3D Weeks” for managers and employees to meet and discuss performance and career development. These weeks are about building strong relationships and driving meaningful conversations between managers and their teams.
We also have a number of initiatives designed to ensure frequent communication and engagement with employees, including regular all company meetings, 411 or “Lunch ‘n Learn” sessions led by internal experts and periodic roundtable discussions with senior management.
We also believe in developing the next generation of leaders in life sciences and offer a fellowship in partnership with Northeastern University, as well as internships and co-op positions across Dyne. In 2022, we hosted 10 interns and co-ops, as well as a fellow.
We recognize the importance of creating an environment that encourages diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and creative approaches to advancing innovative therapeutics – it makes us stronger and better positioned to achieve our mission. We also unite in a fidelity to our core values, which are the foundation of our company culture.
Our Core Values
Learn more
Delivering for patients
Dyne family
One mission, no ego
Embrace accountability to ensure excellence in execution
Fearless innovation
We have a cross-functional and multi-level Culture Team that is charged with identifying ways to reinforce our company values, bring insights from across the business, and drive initiatives, including team building, wellness, community and social events. In 2022, we conducted food and toy donation drives, and virtual walks to support the Duchenne community. We also held our first FORCE for Good Service Day, volunteering nearly 200 hours at five non-profits in the Greater Boston area on projects that included packing winter coats for young children, cleaning up a local park, and preparing meals for individuals with chronic illnesses.
Dyne offers employees a competitive and comprehensive benefits package, which we believe is an important part of supporting the health and well-being of our employees and their families. These include:
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance plans with 100% premiums covered by Dyne for full-time employees and their enrolled dependents
- Short & Long Term Disability as well as Life Insurance with 100% of premiums covered by Dyne
- Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA) covering 100% of the medical deductible expenses for full-time employees and their dependents enrolled in medical insurance through Dyne
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Dependent Care Spending Accounts
- Employee Assistance Plan (EAP)
- 401(k) plan
- Equity (Options and Restricted Stock Units)
- On-Site Gym & Personal Training
- Paid holidays, flexible paid time off, including one-week year-end and one-week summer office closure
- Paid family leave
- Lunch delivered onsite daily
- Shuttle commuter benefits & free on-site parking
Delivering for patients & community
Our mission and core values are centered on our dedication to delivering for people living with serious muscle diseases. We have a robust pipeline of product candidates, with our initial focus on myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). Each of these disorders has a profound impact on affected communities around the world.
We are utilizing our proprietary FORCE™ platform to overcome the current limitations of muscle tissue delivery and advance modern oligonucleotide therapeutics for muscle diseases. In selecting diseases to target with our FORCE platform, we seek those with clear translational potential from preclinical disease models to well-defined clinical development and regulatory pathways.
We have generated platform-validating preclinical data across our programs and operated with a commitment to understand our candidates and ask the tough questions across in vitro and in vivo models and where we need to, developing our own models as we did in creating the hTfR1/DMSXL model which we believe sets a standard in evaluating pharmacodynamics in DM1.
We have Phase 1/2 global, placebo-controlled clinical trials ongoing for our product candidate in DM1, DYNE-101, which we refer to as our “ACHIEVE” clinical trial and our product candidate for exon 51 in DMD, DYNE-251, which we refer to as our “DELIVER” clinical trial. For more information on ACHIEVE and DELIVER clinical trials, please visit here. Our trials are performed in accordance with the highest standards, including the International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) Good Clinical Practice guidelines. Clinical trials and related protocols and patient informed consents are reviewed and approved by independent institutional review boards, ethics committees and regulatory authorities.
Dyne believes that participating in clinical trials is the best way for patients to access investigational medicines. These carefully controlled, rigorous scientific studies are needed to obtain regulatory approval, which will be critical for enabling the broadest access to treatment for a specific condition. Currently, Dyne does not have investigational medicines available through an expanded access program. We will continue to assess this as our clinical programs progress.
to Patient Advocacy
We are committed to listening to and learning from individuals and families living with rare muscle diseases. They provide insights and information about disease burden and meaningful benefit that we know is critical to developing truly transformative therapies. Our engagement includes holding patient and family advisory boards, hosting fireside chats and panel discussions with affected individuals, participating in educational webinars with the community, and engaging with advocacy organizations on disease awareness days. To hear stories from the community, please visit here.
While we work to advance our therapeutics, in partnership with CureDuchenne, in 2022, we hosted The Muscle to Keep Life Moving™ event to raise funds to provide mobility to families living with rare muscle diseases including DMD, DM1, and/or FSHD. We also provide donations to non-profit organizations focused on supporting the research and care of families living with rare muscle diseases.
In addition, Dyne has partnered with the University of Notre Dame to support the university’s new minor in science and patient advocacy, a unique program to prepare the next generation of leaders for careers focused on improving patient care. In 2021 and 2022, Dyne collaborated with Notre Dame to convene a Rare Patient Advocacy Summit at the university, and during the summer of 2022 hosted two graduating students as interns. To learn more about this partnership, watch this video here.
Protecting the environment
We recognize our responsibility to minimize the impact of our operations on the environment. At our corporate headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts we have implemented several practices to conserve resources and reduce waste including those outlined below.
- We recycle paper, cardboard, plastics and glass waste. In 2022, we recycled 15 tons of materials, which according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Waste Reduction Model (WARM) is the equivalent of removing annual emissions from approximately 9 passenger vehicles. Additionally, the 15 tons of recycled material is equivalent to conserving an estimated 4,874 gallons of gasoline, 1,805 cylinders of propane used for home barbeques, two households’ annual energy consumption, 38 barrels of oil and 1,855 gallons of gasoline.
- We implemented water saver faucets, upgraded 100% of lighting to LED and have energy efficiency utilizing daylight harvesting.
- We limited the purchase of single use water bottles and distributed reusable drink containers.
- We provide onsite bike storage and showers to encourage bike commuting. We also offer onsite charging stations for employee and visitors’ electric vehicles and are members of the 128 Business Council supporting shuttle services for employees to and from public transportation hubs, helping provide innovative commuting that reduces carbon output.
In addition, we ensure our employees are trained in environmental health and safety, including emergency preparedness, proper waste disposal, and lab safety training.
Corporate governance and operating our business with integrity
Dyne’s Board of Directors established and adheres to Corporate Governance Guidelines that assist the Board in the exercise of its duties and responsibilities and serve the best interests of the company and its stockholders.
Our goal is to assemble a Board of Directors that brings to Dyne a variety of perspectives and skills derived from high quality business and professional experience. The Board has not adopted a formal policy with respect to diversity, but believes that our directors, taken as a whole, should embody a diverse set of skills, experiences and backgrounds. In this regard, the Board takes into consideration the diversity (for example, with respect to gender, race and national origin) of our Board members. The Board believes that the background and qualifications of the Board of Directors, considered as a group, should provide a significant mix of experience, knowledge and abilities that will allow the Board of Directors to fulfill its responsibilities. Our directors’ performance and qualification criteria are reviewed periodically by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board of Directors.
Details on our corporate governance guidelines and charters for all committees are available here. The following are highlights of our corporate governance practices:
- Separate role for CEO and Chairman of the Board
- 7 of 8 Directors qualify as independent according to the applicable Nasdaq listing standards and rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- In 2022, each Director attended 75% or more of the aggregate number of meetings of the Board and the committees on which each director served
Directors and employees are responsible for adhering to the company’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. We expect our employees to read, understand and abide by the requirements in the code to ensure ethical business practices and compliance throughout our organization.
Dyne also requires that all new employees adhere to anti-bribery and anti-corruption, conflicts of interest, anti-harassment, cybersecurity, and other policies and procedures that outline how they are expected to conduct their day-to-day responsibilities.
Employees and directors must report any concerns with compliance with corporate policies can do so openly or anonymously. This includes through the Dyne Therapeutics hotline at https://www.whistleblowerservices.com/DYN or utilizing a toll-free telephone number 877-306-4941.
At Dyne, we are working to help fundamentally change the lives of people living with serious muscle diseases. As a mission-driven organization, we pursue our goals with passion, determination, agility and urgency, recognizing that our efforts have the opportunity to impact many people. We recognize our responsibility to our stockholders, employees, people living with serious muscle diseases, clinicians and other stakeholders and will endeavor to report our progress.
Information as of Dyne’s year-end 2022 results
