When Deborah Dunsire (photo) was the head of an independent Millennium Pharmaceuticals in 2005, she helped guide the company and its only product at the time--Velcade--through a difficult period of flagging sales and impending competition. Her plan for the drug, which included pursuing new indications, helped revive the multiple myeloma drug's sales.

The CEO remained at the helm of Millennium when Takeda bought the developer in 2008 as part of a roughly $8.9 billion deal. "Dunsire's experience guiding new formulas through the U.S. approval process and her blend of medical, marketing and management skills are crucial to Takeda," notes BusinessWeek. Takeda is attempting to gain a foothold in the $52 billion oncology market.

Dunsire currently oversees 15 oncology programs--about a third of Takeda's pipeline. Notable late-stage programs include Hodgkin's lymphoma treatment SGN-35, a drug developed by Seattle Genetics, and motesanib for lung cancer. More Velcade indications are in the works as well. "Velcade has been on the market for eight years, and we're still discovering what it can do," Dunsire tells BusinessWeek.

- read the BusinessWeek report for more

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