Genentech’s Bill Anderson says he has always felt a drive tomake a difference in people’s lives.

“I wanted to get somewhere where the output of my work had amore substantial impact on people, ” he says. This April marked a majorachievement in the realization of Anderson’s goals when, at age 39, he acceptedthe role of VP at Genentech, as head of its new immunology products departmentto support Rituxan.

Anderson attended the University of Texas in Austin, wherehe studied chemical engineering “because I always liked science,” he says.“That always seemed like a good place to contribute.” Upon completing hisundergraduate degree in 1988, he went to work as an engineer designing andbuilding chemical plants and producing chemicals for consumer products.

But after working two and a half years as an engineer in theNetherlands and Belgium, he found himself searching for something more. So hereturned to the US to enroll at MIT. There, Anderson earned masters degrees inmanagement and chemical engineering.

“I knew I wanted to go and work on the business side ofthings, but I also felt, in order to be fully effective, it was important tohave a good, solid technical base,” he says.

After completing his studies at MIT in 1995, Anderson wentto work for a high-tech start-up firm called Raychem Corporation and, soonafter, for a spin-off unit of the company, in various roles involved in themarketing of components used in the manufacturing of digital projectors.

After two years, Anderson concluded that the best way forhim to “make a contribution” would be to apply his vast science andbusiness knowledge to healthcare, and in 1997 he returned to Cambridge, MA, tosign on with Biogen Idec.

“I started out as a financial analyst supporting theoperations and product development areas. After two years, they sent me out to run business inthe UK and Ireland.”

His first task was to lead Biogen through an evaluation of amultiple sclerosis product by the UK’s National Institute for Health andClinical Excellence, the independent organization responsible for providingnational guidance on the promotion of good health.

“We basically helped people to understand (the review)wasn’t just the matter of a dispute between the company and the government,”Anderson explains,  “but it was amatter of us standing up for the rights of people with MS and to have the drugreimbursed by the national health system. We kept the whole team on board. Wefought and we lost in the first round, but we won on appeal. In the end, wereached a very good solution. That resulted in a huge increase in the number ofpatients that were able to receive treatment. It was actually a greatleadership test for me.”

Anderson’s next test came when he was called back to the USby Biogen to run its neurology business.

“Basically my role there was to launch Tysabri and then towork with the development organization and the FDA to sort through theaftermath of a withdrawal, to make Tysabri available again.

“We could have had another disaster scenario similar to someof the other events that have happened in our business and we didn’t. In theend, people from all parties would say we did the right thing, that theytrusted us.”

In April, Anderson brought his skills to Genentech, where heis helping drive the south San Francisco firm’s burgeoning immunologyfranchise. “We are off to a very good start,” he says. “We have Xolair directedat asthma, Raptiva directed at psoriasis and Rituxan recently approved forrheumatory arthritis.”

When Anderson is not helping biotech companies build theirbusiness, he likes to play electric guitar and spend time with his wife andthree young children. “I do a lot of soccer, softball— things like that,” hesays laughingly.

As for his new home at Genentech, the thing that impresseshim most is the pace of business. “People here are just extremely committed tomoving things forward. The pace at which decisions are made is pretty awesometo see when you first arrive.”


 

HEADLINER STATS:

Bill Anderson

VP, immunology

business unit, Genentech

 

1997–2006

Biogen Idec—VP, finance, business planning; VP/gen. manager,neurology business unit

 

1995–1997

Raychem Corporation—marketing and development