Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day navigated the company through the turbulent waters of COVID-19 last year, pushing out the very first approved treatment for treatment of the virus. His reward? A $19 million take home.
Gilead Sciences CEO Daniel O’Day (Gilead)
Gilead Sciences CEO Daniel O’Day navigated the company through the turbulent waters of COVID-19 last year, pushing out the very first approved treatment for treatment of the virus. His reward? A $19 million take home.
O’Day came into his role at Gilead in March of 2019, scoring $29.1 million in compensation. A filing from the company clarifies that pay amount included a one-time make-whole payment to make up for what O’Day forfeited when he left his previous role at Roche after 30 years. His base salary increased 34% over last year, landing at $1.7 million for the year.
Thanks to a repurposing of an old failed Ebola drug, Gilead became the first household name in COVID-19 treatment with remdesivir, now branded Veklury. The company said the drug is now used in one out of two hospitalized patients suffering from the coronavirus. With 2020 sales at $2.8 billion, Veklury bumped up overall product sales 10% year-over-year to $24.4 billion.
One of the brains behind Veklury’s success, Diana Brainard, SVP and head of virology at Gilead, is jumping ship to take the helm at AlloVir. The company develops allogeneic cell therapies to control infections in immunocompromised patients.
Particularly during a global pandemic that has cost millions their livelihoods, CEO compensation has been under a tightening microscope. O’Day’s compensation package certainly isn’t the highest, but does leave him making $76 for every $1 of median compensation for the 11,486 other Gilead employees.
Bristol Myers Squibb announced its CEO got a 7% increase for his efforts, landing him a $20 million pay package for 2020. AstraZeneca’s CEO also got a bump to $21.4 million for the year.
Gilead saw more than its COVID drug approved. They also brought Tecartus to market, the first and only approved chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy for the treatment of relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma. Acquired through Immunomedics, Trodelvy scored accelerated approval for adult patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who have received at least two prior therapies for metastatic disease. Jyseleca saw approval for RA treatments in Europe and Japan.
The company’s HIV treatment, Biktarvy, shot up 53% over 2019 sales. The drug is prescribed in nearly one in two patients with HIV. Even with this success, the company is pushing an HIV capsid inhibitor, hoping for a long-acting option for not just treatment but prevention of HIV. The drug, lenacapavir, has been granted Breakthrough Therapy designation by the FDA. Gilead has plans to file an NDA in the second half of 2021 thanks to a positive outcome in its Phase II/III study.
In a time when many companies were forced to downsize and lay off staff, Gilead grew to more than 13,000 employees. The company’s focus is shifting to expand its oncology portfolio in the coming years.
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