CEO transformed treatment for HIV, Hepatitis
3 min read . Updated: 03 Apr 2021, 02:29 PM IST - John C. Martin led Gilead Sciences for two decades, with singular focus on developing drugs
Employees of Gilead Sciences Inc. gathered in the biotechnology company’s cafeteria to celebrate regulatory approval of the company’s single-pill HIV treatment in 2006.
The drug and other treatments to follow would generate billions of dollars in revenue and transform HIV into a manageable, chronic condition. Chief Executive John C. Martin and other leaders opened up Champagne bottles, but Mr. Martin’s mind was elsewhere.
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1 min read . 01:57 PM ISTPlastic Champagne glasses in hand, he gathered a few of the company’s top executives to discuss the company’s next target: hepatitis C, a disease that can lead to liver failure.
“OK, how are we going to be No. 1 in HCV?" Mr. Martin said, referring to the hepatitis C virus, according to longtime Gilead executive John Milligan.
Within a decade, Gilead released another medication that transformed the lives of millions, this time curing hepatitis C in many cases.
“He was always driving us to do better," said Mr. Milligan.
Mr. Martin died March 30 after an apparent fall while walking home in the Palo Alto, Calif., area. Survivors include Rosemary Martin, his college sweetheart, whom Mr. Martin later married, and two children. He is also survived by Lillian Lou, his partner in later years.
Over nearly three decades at Gilead, including 20 years as CEO, Mr. Martin turned the California pharmaceutical company from a small startup with a few dozen employees into a pharmaceutical leader that now employs 13,600.
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Under his leadership, the company helped make drugs that fundamentally changed how HIV and hepatitis C were treated. Gilead also worked on a drug that can treat the flu, and developed remdesivir, now given to Covid-19 patients.
Mr. Martin was born in 1951 to parents who both were chemists. He earned a degree in chemical engineering at Purdue University, a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Chicago and then joined a California pharmaceutical firm.
In 1990, Mr. Martin arrived at Gilead as head of research and development, when the company had around 30 employees. He refocused the company on antiviral treatments, becoming chief executive in 1996.
Norbert Bischofberger, who worked for Mr. Martin on scientific efforts for 27 years, said he and Mr. Martin would commonly chat over coffee in the office at 6 a.m. Saturday morning meetings. Even as a top executive, Mr. Martin would frequently attend scientific conferences, wanting to hear directly from researchers, colleagues said.
“Was he rock climbing? No. Was he vacationing? No," said Mr. Bischofberger. “This was his life."
By the late 1990s, HIV patients were commonly prescribed a three-drug cocktail that could involve 20 or more pills a day, taken at different times and with stringent eating restrictions, said Mr. Bischofberger. Patients often missed pills, leading to serious side effects.
In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Atripla, which combined two drugs from Gilead with another from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. to create a single daily pill.
“We made therapy very simple, very effective," Mr. Bischofberger said. “As long as you take that, you can live a normal life."
Gilead bought drug developer Pharmasset for around $11 billion in 2012 and further developed a Pharmasset drug to win FDA approval for a hepatitis C treatment in late 2013. The drug, which for many patients cured hepatitis C in 12 weeks when added to an older treatment, had a list price of about $84,000 per course of treatment, setting off a debate over drug costs. Mr. Martin defended the price, arguing companies required incentives to commit the years and investment to develop new drugs, and to allow people in developing countries to receive drugs at subsidized prices.
Daniel O’Day, Gilead’s current chief executive, said the company’s focus on science and creating access to medicines in the developing world are Mr. Martin’s lasting legacies.
“It’s hard to overstate John’s impact on health," Mr. O’Day said. “Arguably two of the most important recent events in medical treatment were created under his watch."
Former colleagues said Mr. Martin focused on making Gilead’s drugs available at a low cost to people in poorer parts of the world. The company worked with drug regulators in African countries and struck deals with generic drug manufacturers in India to produce pills more affordably.
Gilead estimates that about 15 million people in the developing world are getting one of its HIV medications today.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
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