UPDATED: Biogen CEO Scangos scores 19% pay hike during stellar 2012

George Scangos took home one of the largest pay packages in the biotech industry in 2012. Biogen Idec's ($BIIB) CEO reaped a total of $13.45 million in 2012 compensation, a 19% jump from his $11.33 million pay package in the previous year, according to figures the Weston, MA-based company reported Monday in a proxy statement.

Scangos won points last year for beating a target with $5.5 billion in revenue and helming the company as key pipeline milestones were met with new therapies for hemophilia and multiple sclerosis, including the recently FDA-approved MS pill Tecfidera, or BG-12. Shares of Biogen jumped 32.5% in 2012 and have soared 174% since his date of hire in 2010, the company said in the proxy statement.

His sizable pay package included $1,294,231 in salary and $7,955,654 in stock compensation as well as $3,785,600 in nonequity incentive plan pay and $416,317 in other compensation, according to Biogen's SEC filing dated April 30. Add up all those figures, and Scangos took home less than the $15.26 million paid to Gilead Sciences ($GILD) CEO John Martin and just below the $13.57 million for Amgen ($AMGN) Chief Executive Officer Robert Bradway, according to figures compiled by FiercePharma.

Scangos, 65, has gained credit for refocusing the R&D organization and pipeline at Biogen since taking the helm in July 2010, including his decision to pull the plug on oncology drug research that wasn't paying off in his first year on the job. He has also benefited from arriving at Biogen at a time when the company's pipeline has matured; he inherited standout assets such as BG-12, which analysts expect to bring blockbuster revenue of more than $3 billion and top the growing market for oral MS therapies.

Scangos, who previously led Exelixis as CEO, has already had a busy 2013. With the FDA approval of Tecfidera in March, the company wasted no time in beginning U.S. sales of the medication. In February, Biogen struck a deal with Elan ($ELN) to take full control of the intellectual property for the MS therapy Tysabri. However, the company revealed a major R&D bust in January, with the Phase III failure of dexpramipexole in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Yet most signs point to another successful year in store for Scangos and the crew at Biogen.  

In related news: Celgene ($CELG) CEO Bob Hugin joined the 8-figure club in biotech with total 2012 compensation of $10.57 million, a nearly 19% increase from his $8.92 million pay package in 2011, according to the company's May 1 proxy statement. Hugin, who has been CEO of the biopharma powerhouse since June 2010, led the company through double-digit sales growth in 2012 for marquee products such Revlimid, Vidaza and Abraxane. Last year the company also acquired Avila Therapeutics and secured a deal with Epizyme, bolstering its early-stage pipeline of cancer drugs. 

- here's Celgene's proxy statement
- and Biogen's proxy statement

 

Editor's Note: Update adds background details about 2013. Second update adds Hugin's compensation numbers for 2012. Third update corrects John Martin's 2012 compensation figure.