Robert R. “I am a Rock Star, and You are Not” Ruffalo, Jr. Victory Lap

The Robert R. “I am a Rock Star, and You are Not” Ruffalo, Jr. Victory Lap of Wyeth Research has begun.

Combining the worst features of Donald Rumsfeld and Donald Trump, last hoorah of the Robert “It wasn’t broken, so I broke it” Ruffalo road show is coming to an end.

With chutzpah that would be the envy of either Clinton, our hero started his final “All Hands” talks around the Company. Ignoring the major setbacks he has wrought upon us, Ruffalo blithely showed slides of his greatest hits at the start of this foolishness last week.

Why Poussot allows Ruffalo to continue to leave his fetid fingerprints all over research, for his final loop of self-promotion, is a puzzlement.

We “hammered faster” for seven Ruffalo-years, and have built a house, which divided against the FDA and the rest of Pharma cannot stand.

It would be interesting to spend time inside Ruffalo’s head. Has he really ever believed his bullshit, or is he lying his way through his final set of presentations, just because that is what he does.

 

Combining the worst features of Donald Rumsfeld and Donald Trump, last hoorah of the Robert “It wasn’t broken, so I broke it” Ruffalo road show is coming to an end.

LOL Great post.

 

Five years ago he told the sales force we had so many great leads that he was starting to sell or license out the excess leads. Did that go anywhere?

 

Re: The casualities of Robert R.Ruffalo, Jr.

I was reading this and thinking how right it is. My mind turned to the talent at Wyeth and the constraints he put on them. Frank Walsh did a tremendous job that was completely aimed at buffering the company in the future from such nonsense that RR was pushing. The Translational Medicine efforts at Wyeth are quite unique and face up to the fact that Pharma just isnt that innovative. The TMed pipeline is filled with forward thinking innovative projects that is resisted by discovery TA heads as it as making their job of "more shots on goal" much more complicated. I feel for Frank Walsh as I really think he would have made an excellent President at Wyeth and taken the company forward with Discovery being accountable untill phase IIa efficacy had been acheived. I am sure the new guy will be good where is the concept of merit in all of this. Yes RR got what was coming... but all the good people under him have been tarred with that brush and FW must be suprised he wasn't given the oppurtunity to succeed.

 

The comment about Frank may be right on, however it looks like Wyeth may be turning away from anything Ruffalo, including those he brought in, and possibly even those he promoted, or those who were his senior management. It would not surprise me to see wholesale retirements among the 55+ senior VPs. This, of course will make for much (necessary) upheaval, and for opportunties for those in lower levels of management. All in all it will be for the good, I believe.

 

I have often heard Ruffalo speak, and he is a fantastic presenter (some would say bull-shit artsist). Can anyone comment whether he is a good scientist?

 

Yeah, there are about 2500 people who have lost their jobs because he couldn't deliver what he promised that can tell you he sucks as a scientist!

 

The dog-and-pony show will be in Pearl River this week. Wonder if they'll still give him the keys to the helicopter.

 

It would not surprise me to see wholesale retirements among the 55+ senior VPs.

Its the one's that excelled or who got the most "shots on goal" that should be retired independent of age. FW may have vision but some of his VPs are bullies and just not v good at DD. If its these guys that end up doing well in the reorg then any sensible person will get the hell out of here as we all know not one of FWs reports is fit for that position

 

That heavy metal is his music of choice should have been a red flag. He's an overgrown kid with a chemistry set. Good riddance!

 

We'll call it the "Project Ruffalo Flush".

 

I was very close to Bob Ruffalo when he was at SmithKline Beecham and I can assure you he is both a brilliant and an innovative scientist. I followed every step of his development of Carvedilol and bringing it to market as a treatment for CHF and his dedication and persistence has saved thousands of lives. His detractors are a bunch of wannebes compared to Bob.
Linda Poste

 

I'll second that. Wish you were still at the helm, Bob. OH

 

This post is some 4 years too late, but here it is...

I was at Wyeth when Bob was at the helm (a middle manager).

Bob was honest, straight talker and clearly a first class scientist.

He energized anybody who cared about good science and making good drugs (mostly younger scientists).

Older managers were scared of new demands and tried to discredit BR's goals because they were afraid they can't reach them.

The worst thing for Bob was bringing FW. FW was to Bob, what John Sculley was to Steve Jobs - except Bob didn't realize it.

FW undermined Bob's message (quite openly at his own "All hands" meetings). Suddenly, the senior menages had a "trusted" person on their side, who would help them put forward bogus achievements and pack them as "successes". Everything else is history.

 

I was there too, you are blided by his "flash"...look at what came out of his tenure...nothing...all that self-promotion, rock-star meetings...talking up the metrics...and not a single worthwhile compound out of it...

 

This also is a few years late. I worked with Bob when he was a PHD pharmacology student at Ohio State University. Although I was still an undergraduate, I was publishing - but Bob was a machine. He churned out quality papers with great velocity. Between papers he was "normal", but once he uncovered the basis for a publication, Robert worked 24x7 until the research was completed and the paper was submitted.

It is possible this may have been his true calling. As far as his fitness for senior management, I cannot comment.