USA —Biogen has appointed Christopher A. Viehbacher as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors, effective November 14.
Viehbacher succeeds Michel Vounatsos, who has led the company since 2017.
Viehbacher has extensive international experience in both large pharmaceutical companies and entrepreneurial biotech companies.
Viehbacher was the CEO of Sanofi from 2008 to 2014 and has decades of experience working with both large pharmaceutical companies and small biotechs. He spent 20 years at GSK before joining Sanofi, where he helped reshape the company’s drug portfolio.
While at Sanofi, Viehbacher, 62, completed a US$20 billion acquisition of rare disease specialist Genzyme, as well as expanded an alliance with Regeneron, which resulted in the top-selling anti-inflammatory drug Dupixent.
Under Viehbacher’s leadership, Sanofi strengthened and diversified its R&D pipeline and delivered significant value to shareholders. However, Viehbacher was fired by Sanofi in 2014 after a boardroom brawl over his management.
Following that, Viehbacher served as chairman of the drug-hunting start-up Boston Pharmaceuticals and as managing partner of the healthcare investment firm Gurnet Point Capital, which founded and invested in several biotechs.
However, his recent focus on investment rather than industry has raised questions about this new appointment.
He has also chaired or been a member of the board of a number of entrepreneurial companies in biotechnology.
Stelios Papadopoulos, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board of Biogen, said: “Chris is the rare pharma executive who has a keen understanding of the complexities involved in running a multibillion-dollar global pharma business as well as a deep appreciation for the value of innovation.”
Last year, Biogen won controversial FDA approval of Aduhelm, billed as the first drug to treat Alzheimer’s underlying cause.
Sales were weak to begin with – priced at US$56,000, and the company found convincing doctors and insurance companies of its effectiveness to be difficult – when the US’ Medicare limited its coverage only to clinical trials.
This led to a period of layoffs and its plans for Vounatsos (who had led Biogen since 2017) to step down as CEO.
Nonetheless, Viehbacher joins Biogen after a surprising clinical trial success for lecanemab, another Alzheimer’s drug Biogen is developing in collaboration with Eisai.
A similar treatment to Aduhelm, it is already under FDA review for accelerated approval and is expected to turn around Biogen’s fortunes.
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