Vir Biotechnology announces retirement of CEO George Scangos
George Scangos, Ph.D., will retire from his position as Vir’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective April 3, 2023.
Dr. Scangos has served as Vir’s President and CEO, and as a member of the Board of Directors since January 2017. Under Dr. Scangos’ leadership, the company has delivered therapies for Ebola and COVID-19 to millions of patients around the world, built a pipeline across five therapeutic areas, and established a strong balance sheet with approximately $2.7bn in cash and cash equivalents. In 2022, Vir was named the fastest growing company on the 2022 Deloitte Technology Fast 500.
Prior to joining San Francisco-headquartered Vir, Dr. Scangos served as CEO and as a member of the Board of Biogen for six years. Previously, he was President and CEO of Exelixis for 14 years. In recognition of his industry leadership, Dr. Scangos was among the top 10 CEOs to be named a “Businessperson of the Year” by Fortune (2014 and 2015). He was also named one of “The Best Performing CEOs in the World” by Harvard Business Review for three straight years (2014, 2015 and 2016) and “The Most Admired CEO” by the San Francisco Business Times (2021).
Dr. Scangos served as Chair of PhRMA in 2016, and as the Chair of the California Healthcare Institute in 2010. He received the Pantheon Life Sciences Leadership Award in 2018 and was named lead of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s response to Coronavirus (COVID-19) in 2020. Today, he serves on the Board of Overseers of the University of California, San Francisco and the Board of Trustees of Life Science Cares.
Incoming CEO
Vir has appointed industry veteran Marianne De Backer, MSc, Ph.D., MBA (currently Executive Vice President, Head of Pharmaceuticals Strategy, Business Development and Licensing/Open Innovation, and Member of the Executive Committee for Bayer Pharmaceuticals) as Scangos’ successor, effective April 3, 2023. She will also join Vir’s Board of Directors.
Upon his retirement as CEO, Dr. Scangos will serve in an advisory role to Dr. De Backer through June 2, 2023 and will continue providing strategic counsel to Vir as a member of the Board of Directors.
Dr. De Backer brings to her new role more than two decades of broad international leadership experience, including a strong track record in global expansion, innovation technology licensing and multiple billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions. Throughout her career, she has been directly accountable for more than 200 strategic alliances in healthcare, many of which have led to approved medicines.
Prior to joining Bayer, Dr. De Backer spent more than 20 years at the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, first as a scientist and scientific group leader, and later taking on roles of increasing responsibility and scope, including corporate development and international commercial positions.
Dr. De Backer holds a Master in Molecular Biology from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, a Master in Engineering and Biochemistry, and a Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Ghent University, Belgium, and an MBA from Erasmus University, Rotterdam. She currently serves as a non-executive Director on the Boards of Directors of the Gladstone Foundation, Kronos Bio, Inc., Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc., and serves on the Boards of Bayer companies: Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc., Vividion Therapeutics, Inc. and BlueRock Therapeutics LP.
In 2022, Dr. De Backer was recognized by Manager Magazin as one of the “100 Most Influential Women” in German business and one of Healthcare Technology Report’s “Top 25 Women Leaders in Biotechnology.” She was also named one of the “Fiercest Women in Life Sciences” by Fierce Pharma (2020), one of the “Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business” (2020) by the San Francisco Business Times, one of Silicon Valley Business Journal’s “Women of Influence” (2018) and a PharmaVoice100 “Change Agent” (2016).
