Retired Gilead Exec Returns as His Replacement Exits
May 25, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
FOSTER CITY, Calif. – Kevin Young will return to Gilead Sciences as the company’s chief operating officer, replacing the man who replaced him when he retired. Bringing Young back into an active role with the company may be a signal the company is moving to solidify its position atop the hepatitis market as other companies develop drugs to challenge its blockbuster therapies, Harvoni and Sovaldi.
Young will replace Paul Carter, executive vice president of commercial operations, who held the position the past two years since Young’s retirement. While the two HCV drugs combined for $20 billion in sales last year, sales slipped during the first quarter of 2016. As chief operating officer, Young will assume responsibility for Gilead’s worldwide commercial organization and operations. From 2004 through 2014, Young served as Gilead’s executive vice president of commercial operations. Carter opted to leave the company to “pursue other opportunities,” Gilead said in a statement announcing the leadership changes.
Since his retirement as vice president of commercial operations, Young has served as a senior adviser consultant to Gilead. During Young’s previous full-time tenure with the company, his oversight of commercial development helped Gilead see huge jumps in annual revenue, primarily on the strength of its two blockbuster hepatitis drugs.
“I am delighted to welcome Kevin back to Gilead in a full-time capacity. His contributions during his previous tenure, particularly his management of the introduction of eight novel therapies across diverse geographies, made a tremendous impact on the company. I have equally valued his continued engagement and significant contributions as an advisor to Gilead over the past two years,” John Milligan, Gilead’s chief executive officer said in a statement. “Kevin’s knowledge of Gilead’s business, all aspects of commercial operations and our therapeutic areas of focus, his commitment to operational excellence, and his leadership capabilities make him an obvious choice for the role of Chief Operating Officer.”
Ying Huang, an analyst at Merrill Lynch, told bidnessetc he was not surprised to see the departure of Carter given the failure of Harvoni and Sovaldi to his their expected financial marks in the first quarter. Huang said Young’s appointment can be seen as “an extension of current strategy in solidifying GILD’s leadership in the HCV market.”
Gilead currently dominates the HCV market, with its two blockbuster drugs Harvoni and Sovaldi generating about $20 billion in revenue for 2015. There is concern among some investors that the gravy train of Harvoni and Sovaldi will begin to run out sooner, rather than later, particularly due to the cost of the treatments and competition from new drugs, such as Merck ’s recently approved hepatitis C drug, Zepatier. Zepatier was granted breakthrough therapy designation for the treatment of chronic HCV genotype 1 infection in patients with end stage renal disease on hemodialysis and for the treatment of chronic HCV genotype 4 infection.
While there is some competition in the HCV market, Gilead is not resting on its laurels in that area. In January, Gilead submitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for tenofovir alafenamide, an investigational, once-daily treatment for adults with chronic hepatitis B virus infection. The company is also continuing to use Sovaldi in combination with other drugs, including a triplet drug comprised of Sovaldi, velpatasvir, and a protease inhibitor for the treatment of genotype 3 HCV patients. Also, in the waning days of 2015, Harvoni was approved for expanded use in patients with genotype 4, 5 and 6 chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and in patients co-infected with HIV by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In addition to Young, Gilead announced several other leadership changes, including the appointment of Martin Silverstein as the new executive vice president of strategy. Silverstein will oversee Gilead’s corporate development, commercial planning and alliance management functions. He previously served as executive vice president and chief strategy officer at Anthem from 2014 through December 2015.