All humans are born with potential—Leaders evolve
Every day around the world, ordinary people accomplish the extraordinary. Bob believes that Genius-inspired leadership plays a key role in strengthening entrepreneurial confidence in people across all walks of life and encouraging them to take paths that others will naturally want to follow. He achieved this genius leadership throughout his career in roles from investor, employee, executive to CEO to board member. He has pioneered computing and medical breakthroughs and makes big investments on once-in-a-lifetime deals—he’s never content to sit on the sidelines, waiting for something to happen. As a leader and executive, he is a true opportunity seeker that far prefers engagement over passivity.
“To his credit, Duggan is willing to back an effort in an area (new antibiotics) that most big-money investors and companies are too scared to enter.”
—Forbes, February 27, 2020,
“Billionaire Robert Duggan’s New Biotech Chapter: An Antibiotics Quest”
The following stories highlight Bob’s leadership expertise, genius, and ability to communicate ideas to others.
Enterprise, adaptability, and honesty:
Pharmacyclics
All is not lost even when it feels like you are on a sinking ship—if you have the right attitude and the ability to adapt to fast-changing circumstances. That was the case with Pharmacyclics, an oncology drug company aiming to make a difference for patient betterment around the world. Bob was serving on the board in 2008 when the company faced bankruptcy, the CEO quit, and despite Bob’s engagement, the company’s stock plunged to less than $1 a share. Rather than give up and succumb to defeat, Bob doubled down, engaged his current and long-term partner Maky Zanganeh, and invested heavily, becoming Pharmacyclics’ largest shareholder— and stated “there will be no white flag over our door.”
During their tenure at the company, they turned the company around, primarily driven by the success and FDA approval in 2013 of Imbruvica®, a B-cell cancer drug. This drug proved a highly effective treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the most common form of adult leukemia.
With the success of Imbruvica and having grown the company from 45 employees to 700 employees in just six years, Bob set out to negotiate an even bigger deal for the company. A Forbes article referred to his orchestrating the sale of Pharmacyclics to AbbVie in 2015 for $21 billion as “one of the greatest trades Wall Street has ever seen”.
Dynamic energy: Pushing the boundaries (of what is possible)
Summit Therapeutics
In 2019 just six years ago, Bob made an initial and soon to become a controlling investment in another public biotech company by the name of Summit Therapeutics.
Summit Therapeutics Inc. is a biopharmaceutical oncology company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of patient-, physician-, caregiver- and societal-friendly medicinal therapies intended to improve quality of life, increase potential duration of life, and resolve serious unmet medical needs.
Summit Therapeutics’ mission is to resolve serious, unmet medical needs for the betterment of overall human health. Dr. Maky Zanganeh and a group of fellow Pharmacyclics executives have also invested in and joined the executive Summit team.
Summit’s leadership is committed to making a significant positive difference in the quality and potential duration of life for oncology patients facing difficult diagnoses. Summit has enacted the path to providing patient, physician, caregiver, and societal-friendly therapies while creating opportunities for durable growth as a company by initiating two Phase III trials with its lead candidate, ivonescimab.
To learn more: https://www.smmttx.com