Mike Ehlers

Was sorry to hear about Mike Ehlers departure coming up. Wonder how things will change in R&D. Little disconcerting.

 

rumour that mike and al strongly disliked one another .. not surprising .. super solid leader however, he will be missed

 

I always wondered what type of relationship they had. Two very brilliant men for sure.

 

Turnover with good people continues.

 

Honestly, he was going to live or die based on adu even though he did not bring it in. His record is more suited for academic and early dev start ups. He was always going to be outmatched

 

I think the question or assessment really is, what exactly was brought in that has a high probability of going to produce into something meaningful in the next 3-5 years, as the established products are set to face intense competition seemingly all at once starting about this quarter and through 2021? Go look at the investors page and look at the projected readout and FDA submission timelines. And if one gets a pass on Adu, are they allowed to claim credit on all the assets already approved or brought in previously by others? I don’t think people truly appreciate how much the sales growth of Spinrazza masked a lot of problems.

Now, was this an inability and timidity to pull the trigger on a transformative deal with late phase assets, or the board being too restrictive and cautious? No one can understand the missed AveXis deal as one example. Was that misguided arrogance or the company not willing to spend the money? And spare me the AveXis manipulated study data talk, as that was an early animal study, not human.

 

Good point. He had no global dev strategy with a cautious board. Derisked assets like Avexis and even Alder illustrate that point. Night star and the Ionis collaborations will take years to pay off while they have taken their eyes off their own MS turf.

 

Why would you say that it will take years for the nightstar collaboration to pay off when ph3 readout is expected in 2020?

 

With Buzz leaving, you had to know Woody wouldn't stick around the toy chest.

 

https://www.investors.com/news/technology/biogen-stock-rises-investors-digest-gene-therapy-buy/

“Porges sees the gene therapies potentially launching in 2022 and 2023. He forecasts the choroideremia treatment will cost $600,000 in the U.S. for both eyes, and expects it to reach 60% of patients. Outside the U.S., he calls for a $400,000 price tag. He sees $280 million in peak sales by 2026 and an 80% chance of approval”

$280M in peak sales by 2026 is NOT something to pound your chest over when you’re a $13.5B a year pharma company.

 

Exactly. Playing slots instead of being a player at the high stakes table

 

Wonder how many more people from RD will leave. Sad times at Biogen

 

You give Ehlers too much credit. He was an academic wedded to dodgy academic science. He "followed the (flawed) science", and it led him to the door. Three years as R&D head, that's a joke.

 

i am worried about the upcoming R&D organizational disaster... Al will bring his friends and once again makes a mess out of it! Medical is a great example of his talent.... Mike will be greatly missed!

 

morons, all what happened with alzheimer is Al’s fault- Mike had nothing to do with it!

 

Of course idiot since adu advanced to phase 3 before Mike came in.The point was Mike was supposed to fill up the pipeline which was thin. BIIB leadership could have spent more money for late stage assets but whiffed.

 

Reasons why Biogen R&D org is a mess:
1. Decentralized R&D QMS
2. Process Owner Network
3. Training
4. Functional Quality Representatives and Quality Council
5. Department heads who were promoted or transferred to their positions not because of their qualification, education, training, and experience, but because of how well they play office politics that they survived numerous Biogen layoffs

 

This is the case throughout all Biogen departments. Biogen is the epitome of the buddy system and folks taking over teams without a clue of what they do.