October 21, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
SEATTLE – It’s no secret that many chief executive officers across a wide-range of industries draw large salaries, including the pharmaceutical industry. The Puget Sound Business Journal reports 12 Seattle-area pharma CEOs are among the state’s top earning executives, even though some of the companies have yet to post a profit.
Topping the list is Juno Therapeutics’ Hans Bishop who takes home $7.3 million annually, which includes an equity stake of $6.4 million in the company. The Journal pointed out that the company has yet to post a profit, however it has been making big moves that can certainly lead to high future revenues. In June Celgene Corporation acquired a $1 billion stake in Juno Therapeutics as the two companies entered into a 10 year collaborative agreement to leverage combined immunology and oncology expertise to develop treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases. The companies jointly announced the collaborative agreement to leverage T cell therapeutic strategies Monday afternoon. The collaboration will have with an initial focus on Chimeric Antigen Receptor Technology (CAR-T) and T Cell Receptor (TCR) technologies.
Juno Therapeutics was ranked as the “most promising biopharma startup” in BioSpace)’s NextGen Bio Class of 2015. In February, Seattle-based Juno Therapeutics made some aggressive moves by rewarding its executives with generous bonuses for exceeding corporate goals and expanding its talent pool with new hires. The company, which was founded about a year-and-a-half ago, awarded CEO Hans Bishop and Steve Harr, the chief financial officer, with hefty bonuses for exceeding corporate goals. Bishop was awarded a $450,000 bonus, more than double his salary of $425,000, and Harr received a $200,000 bonus.
In addition to Bishop, other Seattle pharmaceutical CEO compensation includes:
1. Clay Siegell of Seattle Genetics, Inc. has annual compensation of $6.8 million. The company posted revenue of $286,758,000 in 2014, according to the Business Journal.
2. James Bianco, CEO of CTI BioPharma Corp. drew $6.678 million in compensation, while the company showed revenue of $60,077,000 in 2014.
3. Gregory Demopulos of Omeros Corp. earned $3.938 million in 2014 while the company posted revenue of $539,000.
4. Randall Schatzman, CEO of Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc. earned total compensation of $2.203 million in 2014. Alder posted revenue of $54,705,000 that same year, according to the Journal.
5. Scott Cormack of OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc. earned total compensation of $1.719 million in 2014. That same year the company posted revenue of $27,116,000.
6. Brad Gray, NanoString Technologies Inc.’s chief took home $1.587 million in total compensation last year. The company had $47,593,000 in revenue over the same period of time.
7. Carlos Paya, CEO of Immune Design Corporation had total compensation of $1.339 million in 2014. The company showed total revenue of $6,433,000.
8. Robert Kirkman, CEO of Oncothyreon Inc. took home $1.024 million in total compensation in 2014. Over the same time period the company showed no revenue.
9. Atossa Genetics, Inc.‘s CEO Steven Quay earned $864,538 in total compensation in 2014. The company showed revenue of $525,954 over that same period.
10. Michael Rice, CEO of BioLife Solutions, Inc. earned $496,739 in 2014. The company posted revenue of $6.2 million that same year.
11. Dwight Babcock of IsoRay, Inc. took home $450,907 in total compensation in 2014, while the company posted revenue of $4,219,000.
Other pharmaceutical executives across the country earning top-level salaries include Arie Belldegrun, the CEO of Kite Pharma, Inc., who was given awards valued at $95.2 million as of the company’s fiscal year-end in 2014, according to an index compiled by Bloomberg. Radius Health’s Robert Ward took home $33.5 million in total compensation for his first year helming that company and Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CEO Paul Berns took home $22.4 million.
