Dyne Therapeutics is a clinical-stage muscle disease company focused on 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 2023, we employed approximately 140 Dynamos.
We leverage a variety of networks, including our own Dynamos, to recruit potential candidates and have an equitable process to evaluate candidates for roles based on technical qualifications as well as fit within our organization. New employees 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 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 2023, we started the year with a Core Values Day, where employees dedicated an entire day to in-depth focus on our core values through interactive exercises with our cross-functional colleagues. After this truly impactful kick off, we offered over 12 diverse courses and coaching sessions totaling over 120 hours of formal development opportunities. Targeted subject areas included: manager effectiveness, clear and impactful communication, taking charge of your career, giving and receiving feedback, effective presentation development and delivery, and gaining insight into self-awareness and interpersonal dynamics. 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 and external experts and periodic roundtable discussions with senior management.
As part of our efforts to develop the next generation of leaders in life sciences, we offer internships and co-op positions across Dyne. In 2023, we hosted 15 interns and co-ops.
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 dedication 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 2023, we conducted a toy donation drive, and a virtual walk to support the Duchenne community. We also held our second FORCE for Good Service Day, volunteering at seven non-profits in the Greater Boston area on projects that included assembling backpacks with school supplies for children impacted by homelessness, packing more than 1,000 winter coats for young children, cleaning up a local park, and assembling more than 300 hygiene kits for our most vulnerable neighbors.
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 and company match
- Equity (Options and Restricted Stock Units)
- On-Site Gym & Personal Training
- Paid holidays, flexible paid time off, including one-week summer and one-week year-end office closures
- Paid family and parental 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 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. In January of 2024, we reported positive initial clinical data from both the ACHIEVE and DELIVER clinical trials. For more information on our 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, we partnered with CureDuchenne, in 2022 and 2023, in hosting The Muscle to Keep Life Moving™ event to raise funds to provide mobility assistance to families living with rare muscle diseases including DMD, DM1, and/or FSHD. In 2023, the event raised more than $135,000 with 100% of the proceeds used to provide two families living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy with new wheelchair accessible vans. 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 minor in science and patient advocacy, a unique program to prepare the next generation of leaders for careers focused on improving patient care. Since 2021, Dyne has collaborated with Notre Dame to convene a Rare Patient Advocacy Summit at the university, and during the summers of 2022 and 2023 hosted two students as interns. To learn more about this partnership, watch this video here.
Protecting the environment
At Dyne 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 2023, we recycled 15.57 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, 4,967 gallons of gasoline or 1,839 cylinders of propane used for home barbeques. Moreover, recycling 15.57 tons of material yields energy savings and reduces the economic impacts associated with various waste management options, equivalent to the annual energy consumption of three households, 40 barrels of oil, or an additional 1,924 gallons of gasoline.
- We have water saver faucets, and 100% of lighting is LED and have energy efficiency utilizing daylight harvesting.
- We limit the purchase of single use water bottles and distribute 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
- 6 of 7 Directors qualify as independent according to the applicable Nasdaq listing standards and rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- In 2023, 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 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 and 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 2023 results
