Leonard Schleifer
| Leonard S. Schleifer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1953 (age 63–64) |
| Residence | Tarrytown, New York |
| Nationality | United States |
| Education | B.S. Cornell University MD-PhD from the University of Virginia |
| Occupation | doctor businessman |
| Known for | founder and CEO of Regeneron |
| Net worth |
 US$ 1.0 billion (March 2014) |
| Spouse(s) | Harriet Partel Schleifer |
| Parent(s) | Florence Schleifer Charles Baker Schleifer |
Leonard S. Schleifer (born 1953) is the founder and chief executive of the biotechnology company Regeneron.
Schleifer was born and raised in a Jewish family, the son of Florence and Charles Baker Schleifer, in Queens, New York. His father was a sweater manufacturer and World War II codebreaker. He graduated with a B.S. from Cornell University and a MD-PhD from the University of Virginia where he studied under future Nobel Laureate, Alfred G. Gilman. He then worked at New York Hospital where he trained to become a neurologist and also served as a junior faculty member.
Noticing that the biotechnology company Genentech was conducting state-of-the-art research but not on diseases of the nervous system, he determined to get into the biotechnology business. After rebuking Gilman's efforts to recruit him as an academic, he found a sponsor in George Sing, a venture capitalist at Merrill Lynch, and obtained $1 million in seed capital. He also recruited George Yancopoulos, a 28-year-old scientist, to be his partner, and in 1988 they founded Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. After several years of trying to recruit research doctors many of whom preferred to work in academia or for large corporations, they developed their first drug to treat Lou Gehrig’s disease. It was a failure as was their second drug to treat obesity. Thereafter, they invited the former Merck & Co. CEO Roy Vagelos to be the chairman of their company to help turn the company around. He implemented two strategic changes: only invest in drugs in which the biology of the disorder is fully understood; and do not underestimate the importance of human testing to ensure that what works in the laboratory will also work in the real world.
As CEO of Regeneron, Schleifer oversaw the "approval and growth of high-priced drugs," such as their first successful drug Eylea, developed in 2011 for "age-related macular degeneration." In 2011, Regereron's first successful drug was, Eylea, for "age-related macular degeneration." Eylea prevented leaky blood vessels in the eye from causing blindness. He licensed the drug to Aventis which was then bought by Sanofi which had no interest in the eye drug. Sanofi, in order to get out of its commitment, paid Regeneron $50 million and ceded the rights back to Regeneron. The drug was a blockbuster generating $838 million in its first full year and sales increased 55% to $1.3 billion in 2013 making Schleifer a billionaire. In 2014 Eylea grossed $1.735 billion.
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