Following Daniel O’Day’s official assumption of the role of Chief Executive Officer of Gilead Sciences on March 1, the pharmaceutical giant specializing in antiviral drug development has undertaken significant strategic and personnel initiatives.
On July 17, Gilead announced that John McHutchison, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and Head of Global Research and Development, will depart next month. The company has initiated a search for his successor.
John McHutchison joined Gilead in 2010. Under his leadership, Gilead developed and launched five new drugs for viral hepatitis, covering approximately 3.2 million patients with hepatitis C and hepatitis B worldwide. Meanwhile, with the launch of Zydelig (idelalisib), its first novel oncology drug, Gilead expanded its business scope into the field of oncology. In March 2018, John McHutchison was appointed as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). During his tenure as CSO, he spearheaded the expansion of Gilead’s pipeline in oncology, cell therapy, and inflammatory diseases, advancing the development progress of several projects.
In a press release, Daniel O’Day expressed gratitude for John McHutchison’s contributions and outstanding leadership at Gilead over the past nine years. John McHutchison also stated that he felt deeply honored by his tenure at Gilead and expressed confidence that the company would continue to deliver important innovative medicines to patients.
Alongside the announcement of John McHutchison’s departure, Gilead also announced that Chief Patient Officer Gregg Alton and Katie Watson, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Human Resources, will depart next month. Both have worked at Gilead for nearly 20 years.
Gregg Alton joined Gilead in 1999, primarily overseeing public medical affairs and medicine access programs in developing countries, as well as commercial operations in Asia and select countries in Latin America. Prior to Daniel O’Day’s appointment, the CEO position at Gilead remained vacant for two months, during which Gregg Alton served as interim CEO.
Katie Watson joined Gilead in 2003, helping the company recruit a large number of scientific talents globally and building Gilead’s global talent competitiveness. Katie Watson will officially leave the company on August 5. Jyoti Mehra, who joined Gilead as Vice President in 2017, will be appointed Executive Vice President, succeeding Katie Watson in overseeing Gilead’s global human resources functions, effective September 1.
Since Daniel O’Day assumed office, Gilead has undergone numerous executive-level personnel changes.
On July 11, Gilead announced that Christi Shaw had joined its executive team as CEO of its subsidiary, Kite Pharma. Previously, Ms. Shaw served as Senior Vice President at Eli Lilly and Company, where she was primarily responsible for Lilly’s biologics business.
On May 29, Gilead announced that Johanna Mercier would join its executive team as Chief Commercial Officer (COO), effective July 1. Previously, Ms. Mercier served as the head of Bristol Myers Squibb’s markets in North America, France, Germany, and Japan. Laura Hamill, Executive Vice President who previously oversaw Gilead’s global commercial operations, will depart the company.
On May 1, Gilead’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Robin Washington announced that he would retire on March 1, 2020.
Robin Washington
On March 5, Gilead announced that Alessandro Riva, Executive Vice President and Head of Hematology and Oncology, would be leaving the company. Following his departure, Mr. Riva joined as CEO of the innovative medicines subsidiary spun off from Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.
Beyond personnel changes, Gilead has recently made significant business headlines, becoming a hot topic in the pharmaceutical industry.
On April 16, Gilead and insitro announced a strategic collaboration to jointly develop innovative therapies for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). insitro, a biotechnology company leveraging machine learning to revolutionize drug discovery and development processes, will receive a $15 million upfront payment and $35 million in near-term payments based on operational milestones. Depending on preclinical, clinical, regulatory approval, and commercialization milestones for the five target candidates selected by Gilead, insitro may receive up to $200 million in subsequent payments per target, plus sales royalties.
On May 8, Gilead and Goldfinch Bio entered into a collaboration to jointly discover, develop, and commercialize innovative therapies for the treatment of diabetic kidney disease and other rare renal disorders. Under the agreement, Gilead has the right to obtain global development rights for research and development products discovered based on Goldfinch’s proprietary Kidney Genome Atlas (KGA). Goldfinch will utilize its biology platform based on human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived renal cells and kidney organoids to validate targets identified from the KGA and support early-stage research and development of investigational products until Gilead exercises its option. Goldfinch will receive an upfront payment of $55 million, $54 million in funding for the construction of the KGA platform, a total of $1.95 billion in research, regulatory, and commercial milestones based on the first five collaborative projects, as well as royalties on sales revenue from potential products.
On June 24, Gilead Sciences and Carna Biosciences entered into a research and development collaboration to develop and commercialize small-molecule immuno-oncology therapeutics, granting Gilead exclusive access to Carna’s proprietary lipid kinase drug discovery platform. Under the terms of the agreement, Gilead will obtain global rights to a small-molecule inhibitor targeting an undisclosed immuno-oncology target from Carna Biosciences, paying an upfront fee of $20 million, potential development and commercialization milestones totaling $450 million, and future royalties based on net sales of collaborative products.
On July 14, Gilead and Galapagos entered into a 10-year global R&D collaboration, through which Gilead acquired rights to six molecules currently in clinical trials, more than 20 preclinical programs, and a validated drug discovery platform from Galapagos. Under the terms of the agreement, Gilead will pay Galapagos a $3.95 billion upfront payment and make a $1.1 billion equity investment. Galapagos will utilize these funds to expand and accelerate its R&D programs. Gilead will obtain exclusive licenses and options to develop and commercialize all current and future programs in all countries outside Europe.