Summary: The $1,000 hepatitis C drug Sovaldi has been in the news lately for the potential dislocation to drug prices, as well as for its therapeutic benefit to hepatitis C patients. The story behind the story involves Congress planning hearings, patients begging for treatment, drug producers explaining that such high prices barely cover their costs, and insurers insisting that drug prices are out of control. Meanwhile, this FiercePharma listing of the 15 best-paid biopharma execs still has the potential to surprise. Read on for details, or….
“Individually, biotech chiefs outranked some of the biggest in Big Pharma. Once again, the world’s highest paid biopharma CEO runs a biotech company: Regeneron’s ($REGN) Leonard ‘Len’ Schleifer, whose $36 million in compensation has now topped these ranks for the second year in a row.
“Then there’s Celgene’s ($CELG) Robert Hugin, who beat Pfizer’s Ian Read by a cool $2 million, thanks to a big leap in options and incentive pay; in fact, Hugin’s compensation almost doubled in 2013. Gilead Sciences’ ($GILD) John Martin, who presided over the launch of hep C superstar Sovaldi, topped Novartis’ ($NVS) Joe Jimenez, if only by a few hundred thousand.” — Tracy Staton, “15 Highest-Paid Biopharma CEOs of 2013,” FiercePharma. (Martin’s reported annual pay is $15.45 million.)
It’s interesting to note: all 15 are men. This is a list of the top-paid women in biopharma, compiled by another source, and for calendar 2012, so not exactly comparable. But still: the highest-paid woman on this list made $10.2 million. Not peanuts, but not $36 million.
