John Martin, the chief executive officer who turned Gilead Sciences into a powerhouse company with treatments for hepatitis and HIV, died. He was 70 years old. A cause of death has not been announced.
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John Martin, the chief executive officer who turned Gilead Sciences into a powerhouse company with treatments for hepatitis and HIV, died. He was 70 years old. A cause of death has not been announced.
Martin’s death was announced by Gilead, where he served as CEO from 1996 to 2016. He also served as chairman of the board of directors from 2008 until 2019. Martin began his career at Gilead in 1990 as vice president of Research & Development. As chief executive officer from 1996 through 2016, he steered the company through a period of remarkable growth, particularly with the pipeline products for hepatitis and HIV.
Martin oversaw a period of growth in the company when Gilead essentially created a cure for hepatitis C, which generated an enormous revenue stream for the company with its powerhouse drugs, Harvoni and Sovaldi. While the company did see revenue windfalls, it proved to be temporary because the drugs were so effective, they created a virtual cure for the disease and the patient pool dwindled. Martin also took center stage when the company came under fire for the cost of these hepatitis C treatments. He was one of the first pharma leaders who introduced the concept that pharma companies rely on significant profits in order to drive research programs into other disease treatments.
The company’s HIV drugs have also been enormously successful, helping turn that disease into a more treatable, albeit chronic condition. Gilead’s Viread has served as the backbone for multiple HIV treatment options.
As chairman working with his successor John Milligan at the reins of the company, Martin also steered Gilead Sciences in its acquisition of Kite Pharma, making Gilead a contender in cell therapy and oncology.
“John’s legacy will be felt for generations to come, living on through the scientific progress made under his leadership and the programs he championed that expanded access to medications for people around the world,” Daniel O’Day, chairman and current CEO of Gilead Sciences said in a statement. “On behalf of all of us at Gilead, I extend our deepest condolences to John’s family.”
Other industry leaders have chimed in with their condolences for Martin. Vivek Ramaswamy, the former CEO of Roivant who stepped down earlier this year, called Martin “one of those rare industry leaders who said what he believed, rather than what others wanted to hear.” In his Twitter post, Ramaswamy cared about solving problems, regardless of how he may be perceived as he went about it. Ramaswamy went on to say knowing Martin was an honor.
Longwood Funds Christoph Westphal called Martin an “amazing force for good.” He said Martin brought life-changing drugs to tens of millions of patients in need.
