STAT Names 2023’s Best and Worst Biopharma CEOs Amid Major IPO Filing

Recently, STAT released its annual list of the best and worst CEOs in the biopharmaceutical industry.

On one hand, Eli Lilly's David Ricks has earned the title of Best CEO with his strategic vision and focus on innovation. Other CEOs have also addressed the toughest diseases with unwavering determination to achieve goals and a keen respect for science. These top CEOs set an inspiring example of the best leadership in the biopharmaceutical industry.

On the other hand, the list also names and criticizes those CEOs who have fallen to the bottom due to financial missteps, wrong strategic moves, or even ethical lapses. A mere clinical trial failure is not enough to land a CEO on the worst CEO list, but actions such as data manipulation and misleading shareholders are what got these CEOs on the list. Among them, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla tops the "worst" list as the highest responsible person for his company's crisis.

In an industry where failure is common, the insights and warnings contained in this year's review are worth considering.

Best CEO: Eli Lilly CEO Ranks First

Eli Lilly: David Ricks

In 2023, Eli Lilly's market value surpassed $500 billion for the first time, exceeding Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie, Merck, and Pfizer. There is even discussion suggesting that Eli Lilly could become the first pharmaceutical company with a market value exceeding $1 trillion.

Due to the surge in demand for GLP-1 drugs used in the treatment of diabetes and obesity, Eli Lilly and Company has become one of the most successful pharmaceutical companies at present. Mounjaro, used for treating type 2 diabetes, has already become a commercial blockbuster and is expected to become one of Eli Lilly's best-selling products.

Some media outlets believe that Zepbound, a recently FDA-approved weight-loss drug, is also expected to soon outpace other medications. According to estimates by Eli Lilly, currently only about 5 million people in the U.S. are receiving treatment with GLP-1 drugs, but in reality, approximately 50 million Americans are eligible for Zepbound treatment and have commercial insurance covering obesity treatment. A Citi analyst once projected that peak sales of Mounjaro would reach $22 billion, while peak sales of Zepbound could reach $37 billion.

The phenomenal popularity of GLP-1 has dominated discussions, making it easy to overlook Eli Lilly's other drug for Alzheimer's disease, donanemab, which the company is also about to bring to market. According to the latest clinical data, donanemab can slow disease progression by 35%, significantly reducing cognitive and functional decline in patients with early-stage Alzheimer's.

Moreover, although Eli Lilly's presence in the cancer field is still relatively small, it is continuously growing.

Eli Lilly's success has naturally led to higher expectations from shareholders. Therefore, the execution in the future will be the challenge for David Ricks moving forward, as Eli Lilly's current competitors include Novo Nordisk, Eisai, and others.

Novo Nordisk: Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen

Novo Nordisk, with its GLP-1 drugs — Ozempic for treating type 2 diabetes and Wegovy for obesity — has reached a new high in market value this year. The popularity of its drugs has even reshaped the entire economy of Denmark. This year, due to the strong sales of GLP-1 drugs, Novo Nordisk’s market value reached as high as $417.5 billion, surpassing Denmark's total GDP of approximately $406 billion.

At the same time, Novo Nordisk's stock return rate increased by 42% in 2023. Even when considering Eli Lilly and Company, its performance has been quite outstanding. Currently, Novo Nordisk's market value is approximately USD 342 billion, making it the most valuable pharmaceutical company in Europe and the third most valuable pharmaceutical company globally.

Novo Nordisk has also extensively expanded the indications for GLP-1 drugs, currently making advancements in metabolic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and NASH. In a landmark clinical study, Novo Nordisk conducted research on more than 17,600 patients who previously had heart disease but did not have diabetes. Compared to those taking a placebo, Wegovy reduced the risk of non-fatal heart attacks by 28%, the risk of non-fatal strokes by 7%, and the risk of heart disease-related death by 15%.

However, the shortage in the production and manufacturing of GLP-1 drugs has led to Novo Nordisk's inability to meet the demand for its weight-loss medication, which was the only flaw for this company in 2023.

Vertex：Reshma Kewalramani

In November this year, Casgevy, the world's first CRISPR gene therapy for the treatment of sickle cell disease, was approved in the UK first, followed by approval in the US in December, ushering in a new era of gene therapy for genetic diseases.

Not long after, another pipeline of Vertex — VX-548, a drug for treating chronic pain, achieved a significant victory as its Phase II clinical trial met the primary endpoint.

At present, the most effective analgesics are still opioid drugs. However, their addictive properties and other side effects have led to strict clinical usage restrictions, resulting in a significant unmet demand in clinical practice. If VX-548 is successfully developed as a non-opioid drug, it will undoubtedly greatly boost confidence in the development of new analgesic drugs. VX-548 is expected to become Vertex's next blockbuster drug.

Vertex's achievements in 2023 drove its stock price up by 42%, bringing the company's market value to $105 billion, surpassing BMS and breaking into the top ten.

Roivant：Matt Gline

Matt Gline boosted Roivant's revenue this year from $50 million to $5 billion.

In December 2022, Roivant acquired a drug codenamed RVT-3101 for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease from Pfizer for $45 million, and subsequently spent $5 million to advance the drug into Phase III clinical trials. Less than a year later, Roivant sold the drug to Roche for at least $7.1 billion, pocketing over $5 billion in cash.

Argenx：Tim Van Hauwermeiren

Van Hauwermeiren, as the CEO of Argenx, demonstrates stronger action than verbal promises, and it is precisely because of this that he has helped this Belgian company grow into Europe's most valuable biotechnology company.

Argenx's core pipeline is its antibody drug Vyvgart, which is currently approved for the treatment of myasthenia gravis. This drug quickly achieved commercial success, with total sales of $401 million in 2022, and is expected to reach $1.2 billion in 2023.

At the same time, Argenx is conducting multiple clinical studies to expand the indications of Vygart to more than ten other autoimmune diseases. In July, the company's stock price soared due to the success of a clinical study for the treatment of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.

Worst CEO: Pfizer CEO Ranks First

Pfizer: Albert Bourla

Albert Bourla Tops the List of Worst CEOs This Year: Strategic Missteps, Financial Miscalculations, and Clinical Trial Failures Plunge Pfizer into Crisis.

In 2023, Pfizer's stock price has fallen by 50%, dropping to its lowest level in more than a decade, with nearly $140 billion in market value wiped out. In 2022, driven strongly by its COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, Pfizer achieved $100 billion in revenue. However, this year, with the decline in sales of coronavirus-related products, the fading of the pandemic dividend, and an expected further drop next year, Pfizer is striving to fill the gap left by expiring patents on older drugs and new drugs that have not met expectations.

Just last week, Pfizer significantly lowered its 2024 financial guidance and announced further spending cuts, which were far below Wall Street's forecasts. Moreover, Pfizer has laid off thousands of employees this year.

Top of the Form

However, Albert Bourla still has many opportunities to turn Pfizer's situation around. In 2024, with the completion of the Seagen acquisition, Pfizer restructured its corporate organization, creating a new division focused on cancer business and research aimed at improving performance. Meanwhile, Pfizer is aggressively seeking future growth through mergers and acquisitions—including not only Seagen but also Biohaven, Global Blood, and Arena Pharmaceuticals. Pfizer anticipates that by 2030, drug sales from these deals will reach $25 billion.

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics：Chaim Lebovits

Setbacks in drug development are very common in the pharmaceutical field, but the clinical failures of BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics occur too frequently.

BrainStorm Cell’s Lebovits does not acknowledge the repeated failures of the company’s stem cell therapy NurOwn in treating ALS, but instead distorts the negative results of the NurOwn Phase III study. At the same time, no effort has been made to address the deep-rooted and persistent issues with stem cell production.

The discussion on the clinical data of NurOwn has lasted for three years. Finally, this year, the U.S. FDA gave the final conclusion, rejecting the marketing of NurOwn with an overwhelming vote.

Ocular Therapeutix：Antony Mattessich

Ocular Therapeutix is a biotech company focused on treating degenerative eye diseases. However, instead of concentrating on technology and new drugs, CEO Antony Mattessich has been misleading shareholders by repeatedly telling stories about how pharmaceutical partners are seizing pipeline rights.

At investor meetings in May and June this year, Mattessich repeatedly told shareholders about the excellent data from its product pipeline while deceiving them into believing that there were many potential partners in talks for product licensing. However, in reality, in August this year, Ocular took on $80 million in new debt, and just last week, Ocular further diluted shareholder equity by selling 31 million shares at $3.25 per share, close to the company's historic low.

Coherus Biosciences：Dennis Lanfear

Coherus Biosciences is a relatively small but overall successful biosimilar manufacturer. However, CEO Dennis Lanfear has also directed the company to develop proprietary cancer immunotherapies, believing it can compete with pharmaceutical giants like Merck, AstraZeneca, and Roche.

In October this year, Coherus's anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor received FDA approval to enter the U.S. market but encountered commercialization setbacks. This dealt a heavy blow to Coherus shareholders, as Lanfear burned cash on new drug development while saddling the struggling company with debt, causing its stock price to drop by 75% this year.