CEO pay of 2008: Who makes what in Big Biotech?

by Maureen Martino and Calisha Myers

Last month we brought you a list of the top 15 Pharma CEO Paychecks [1]. And as promised, here's a look at the five highest-paid CEOs in the biotech industry.

This year we say farewell to one of the industry's biggest stand-alone biotech companies. Genentech has been officially integrated into the Roche fold and no compensation data was available on CEO Arthur Levinson's 2008 pay. Taking Genentech and Levinson's place is Celgene's Sol Barer.

As the economic crisis continues, some biotech execs saw their compensation fall from 2007 levels. Amgen's Kevin Sharer made $14.5 million, down from almost $20 million last year, and Genzyme's CEO pay slipped slightly from $14.6 million to $13.8 million. But Gilead's Martin and Biogen's Mullen both enjoyed a slight pay raise in 2008. It's worth noting that all of the execs on this list make more than the CEOs of Bayer, AstraZeneca, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis and GlaxoSmithKline.

Since biotech companies each have their own approach to reporting CEO pay, FierceBiotech's ranking is based on total compensation reported in these companies' SEC filings. The numbers include base salary, bonus and "other" compensation in 2007. Click below to see what biotech's biggest players made last year.

1. Kevin Sharer - Amgen [2]

2. Henri Treemer - Genzyme [3]

3. John Martin - Gilead [4]

4. James Mullen - Biogen Idec [5]

5. Sol Barer - Celgene [6]