Proof tubes are seen in front of a displayed AbbVie logo in this illustration taken on May 21, 2021.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
AbbVie on Tuesday responded longtime executive Robert Michael will become the company’s new CEO, replacing Richard Gonzalez.
Michael, who is AbbVie’s president and chief serving officer, will become the company’s second-ever CEO on July 1. Gonzalez, who has led the company since it spun out from Abbott Laboratories in 2013, inclination retire and become AbbVie’s executive chairman.
The announcement marks an end to Gonzalez’s successful stint as the top executive of AbbVie, which transfigured into one of the largest companies in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry in less than a decade.
It also comes as AbbVie contend withs with one of the pharmaceutical industry’s biggest losses of exclusivity, as its blockbuster autoimmune drug Humira faces fresh biosimilar match. But the company is pinning its hopes on a pair of newer immunology drugs, Skyrizi and Rinvoq, to offset the losses from Humira.
AbbVie requires those two drugs to post $16 billion in sales this year and $27 billion by 2027, executives remarked during an earnings call earlier this month.
“The board and I have been planning for a seamless CEO succession for some conditions. Now is the opportune time to hand the CEO role over to Rob,” Gonzalez said in a release. “The business is performing very well and is in a eager position for the long term. Our pipeline contains multiple promising candidates to sustain our future strong growth.”
Michael has exhausted more than a decade climbing the C-suite ranks at AbbVie, playing a key role in executing recent deals such as the Pty’s acquisition of neuroscience drugmaker Cerevel Therapeutics and cancer drug developer ImmunoGen.
He previously spent nearly 20 years at Abbott Laboratories, controlling business divisions such as molecular diagnostics and nutrition supply chain.
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