Richard Gonzalez who is in his early 60s is one of a very few CEO who does not have a college degree but this did not prevent him from rising in the highly competitive pharmaceutical industry. He rose to become Executive Vice President, Pharmaceutical Products Group, of Abbott Laboratories where he led the global pharmaceutical business, including commercial operations, research and development and manufacturing. Richard also served as President and Chief Operating Officer, before he briefly retired.
This was in 2007 when he was diagnosed with throat cancer. He retired for about two years then went back to work for Abbott. What was fortunate for Richard was the decision that the company would be split in half to better address the future environment. The company AbbVie was spun off from Abbott Laboratories 2013, where it used to be part of the medical devices and nutrition business.He became Chairman & CEO of AbbVie. The company has as its prized asset the anti-inflammatory drug Humira. With sales of $12.5 billion in 2014, its is one of the biggest drugs in the world.
One of his boldest move was buying cancer drugmaker Pharmacyclis Inc for $21 billion. The key drug of Pharmacyclics is Imbruvica, a cancer drug that may possibly match Humira with its worldwide sales promise. AbbVie is forecasting its portion of peak sales from Imbruvica to be approximately $7 billion. Since the drug is being marketed with Johnson & Johnson, total end-suer sales for may be as high as $12 billion for Imbruvica.
AbbVie, Inc. is a research-based biopharmaceutical company headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. It engages in the discovery, development, manufacture and sale of a broad line of proprietary pharmaceutical products. The company’s products are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease, HIV, cystic fibrosis complications, low testosterone, thyroid disease, Parkinson’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and complications associated with chronic kidney disease, among other indications. It also has a pipeline of new medicines, including various compounds or indications in Phase II or Phase III development.
The company that Ricard leads employs 26,000 people and has annual sales in excess of $19 billion.
No comments:
Post a Comment