Roche Pharmaceuticals head Daniel O’Day will be the new chairman and CEO.
Since July, when Gilead Sciences’ CEO John Milligan and chairman and former CEO John Martin announced they would be leaving, the company has been in search of a new top executive — that search is now over.
Gilead announced that Daniel O’Day, currently head of Roche Pharmaceuticals, will take the role of chairman and chief executive effective March 1, 2019.
O’Day has been responsible for the strong success of Roche in the oncology field, experience that will be beneficial to Gilead. One of O’Day’s first tasks will be to revamp Gilead’s CAR-T cell therapy Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel).
O’Day will have some additional support from Laura Hamill, who joined Gilead from Amgen to head up its commercial operations. At Roche, O’Day will be replaced by Bill Anderson, who is currently the CEO of Roche’s Genentech unit.
