Gilead hires Roche’s pharma chief Daniel O’Day as CEO

Roche executive Daniel O’Day is to take the helm at Gilead after John Milligan steps down as CEO at the end of this year, the company has announced. Currently CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals since 2012, O’Day was previously leader of Roche’s Diagnostics division and has a career spanning three decades in the industry. The move makes sense for Gilead, which is looking to expand its presence in the oncology market where O’Day has a vast amount of experience, as revenues from hepatitis C drugs dwindle. O’Day won’t be starting in his new role until 1 March next year, so in the two months, after Milligan steps down, Gilead’s chief patient officer Gregg Alton will be interim CEO. After joining Roche Pharmaceuticals in 1987, O’Day held various positions in the United States before moving to Roche headquarters in Switzerland in 1998.
During his time in Switzerland, he held leadership roles in global marketing and lifecycle management. In 2001, he moved to Tokyo to become head of corporate planning for Roche Pharmaceuticals in Japan and later moved to Denmark to serve as general manager. He became president of Roche Molecular Diagnostics in California in 2006 and subsequently returned to Roche headquarters to lead the diagnostics division before assuming his current position. O’Day has overseen a period when Roche’s pharma division has been enjoying revenues of around $50 billion annually, with a substantial slice of that income coming from three cancer blockbuster drugs – Avastin, Herceptin, and MabThera/Rituxan.