Alastair Garfield
RHYTHM PHARMACEUTICALSAbout Alastair Garfield
Alastair Garfield, 45, has served as Rhythm Pharmaceuticals’ Chief Scientific Officer since July 2024. He holds an undergraduate degree and Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the University of Bath and previously held academic roles as an assistant professor at the University of Edinburgh and visiting professor at Harvard Medical School, with research published in Nature, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, and Cell Metabolism . Company performance context: net product revenues reached $130.1M in 2024 (vs. $77.4M in 2023 and $23.6M in 2022), while reported net loss was $260.6M in 2024; Rhythm noted a 24% increase in share price in 2024 .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhythm Pharmaceuticals | Senior Vice President & Head of Translational Research | Sep 2017 – May 2021 | Led translational research enabling MC4R pathway product advancement |
| Rectify Pharma | SVP & Head of Translational Sciences & Strategy | May 2021 – Jul 2024 | Helped deliver first-in-class therapeutics for rare disease |
| Pfizer | Laboratory Head, Cardiovascular Metabolic Disease Research Unit | Feb 2016 – Apr 2017 | Led novel obesity target identification |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Edinburgh (UK) | Assistant Professor | Not disclosed | Expanded understanding of hypothalamic melanocortinergic networks |
| Harvard Medical School | Visiting Professor | Not disclosed | Advanced research in metabolism, body weight, appetite |
Fixed Compensation
Not disclosed for Garfield in the 2025 proxy; the Summary Compensation Table lists only the NEOs (CEO, CFO, EVP NA, EVP International, CTO) for 2024 .
Performance Compensation
Company program architecture (applies to executive annual bonuses; individual targets for Garfield not disclosed):
| Metric | Weighting | Target | Actual | Payout Cap | Vesting/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate performance goals | 70% | Set at start of year | 135% achievement (Board determined) | 200% | Goals span commercial growth, clinical/regulatory milestones, infrastructure |
| Individual goals | 30% | Role-specific | Average modifier 146% across NEOs | 200% | Align to influence on corporate objectives |
| Equity LTI design | n/a | Blend of options, RSUs, PSUs | Options vest in 16 equal quarterly installments; RSUs vest over 4 annual installments; 2024 PSUs (for NEOs) measured over 3 years with 0–140% payout potential |
Equity grant specifics (amounts, grant dates) for Garfield are not disclosed; vesting conventions above are the company norms for NEOs in 2024 .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
- Stock Ownership Policy: 1x base salary for executive officers (5-year compliance window; adopted Dec 2024). At adoption, all current directors and executive officers were already in compliance .
- Anti-hedging/anti-pledging: Company prohibits hedging and pledging; holding in margin accounts is also prohibited .
- Beneficial ownership: As of April 28, 2025, 63,597,942 shares outstanding; table shows none of the reported shares are pledged; Garfield is listed as an executive officer but individual ownership for him is not separately disclosed in the table .
- Lock-up during July 2025 offering: Officers (including Garfield) agreed to a 60-day lock-up from the final prospectus supplement date, limiting sales or transfers (with carve-outs for certain transactions) .
Employment Terms
- Clawback Policy: Board-adopted clawback compliant with Nasdaq Rule 10D-1, requiring recoupment of erroneously awarded incentive compensation upon covered restatements within a specified lookback period .
- Severance & Change-in-Control: Letter agreements with NEOs provide salary continuation and healthcare benefits for terminations without cause or for good reason, with enhanced multiples and accelerated vesting during the CIC protection period; 2024 PSUs for NEOs vest at 100% (or higher if milestones deemed probable) upon CIC. Garfield’s individual severance/CIC terms are not disclosed .
- Anti-hedging/pledging: Prohibited per policy .
Company Performance (context during Garfield’s tenure)
| Metric | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenues ($) | $23,638,000 | $77,428,000 | $130,126,000 |
| Net Income - (IS) ($) | -$181,119,000 | -$184,678,000 | -$260,602,000 |
| EBITDA ($) | -$177,485,000* | -$182,599,000* | -$263,940,000* |
Values marked with * retrieved from S&P Global.
Additional context:
- Rhythm highlighted a 24% share price increase in 2024 driven by commercial and pipeline progress .
- Executive compensation governance: high pay-at-risk mix (~90% of total target compensation for NEOs), anti-hedging/pledging, no tax gross-ups, annual say-on-pay with 97.1% approval in 2024 .
Investment Implications
- Alignment: Ownership policy (1x salary for execs), anti-hedging/pledging, and clawback support alignment and downside discipline; at adoption, all executive officers were in compliance .
- Retention & Selling Pressure: A 60-day lock-up for officers tied to the July 2025 offering temporarily constrained insider sales; monitor Form 4s post-lock-up for any sales/10b5-1 plans, though hedging/pledging is prohibited .
- Execution: Garfield’s deep MC4R pathway expertise and translational leadership underpin Rhythm’s precision obesity strategy; continued Phase 3/2 readouts (hypothalamic obesity, EMANATE) and commercialization milestones are the key performance levers affecting bonus and equity outcomes company-wide .
- Risk flags: Net losses remain substantial; change-in-control PSUs (for NEOs) include accelerated vesting—watch governance discipline if M&A scenarios emerge; no pledging allowed by policy and none reported in the beneficial ownership table .