After seven years running Merck’s R&D engine, much of which has revolved around cancer blockbuster Keytruda and, now, COVID-19 vaccines, Roger Perlmutter, M.D., Ph.D., is hitting the exit.
His last day will be Jan. 1, leaving after rejoining the Big Pharma back in 2013 and now with 100 regulatory approvals for drugs and vaccines under his belt. He will be replaced by Dean Li, M.D., Ph.D., currently senior vice president of discovery sciences and translational medicine at Merck Research Labs (MRL).
From New Year’s Day, he will ascend to executive vice president and president, MRL. Perlmutter, who just this week joined the board of AI biotech Insitro, “will remain as a non-executive director, MRL through June 30, 2021 to facilitate a seamless transition,” according to a statement from Merck.
He had been at Merck before as a VP, but left for Amgen before returning in 2013, slashing layers of management and pruning unwanted R&D programs, making a leaner, focused pipeline, and help revive the fortunes of the Big Pharma’s research programs. He also pushed for immuno-oncology to become a core focus of the pharma's R&D, foreseeing the future of cancer medicines on the horizon, and helping build out Keytruda into an $11 billion-a-year drug.
Li will now be heading up new and combo trials of Keytruda, which have swelled to over 1,000, as well as the company's slow but steady process of creating several new potential vaccines against COVID-19, including one via its recent Themis buyout.
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Perlmutter, who got a 2019 pay package worth $9.2 million, the fifth highest biopharma R&D exec payout for last year, has certainly been focused on Keytruda, but Merck’s pipeline outside of the blockbuster checkpoint inhibitor has also been blooming, with the company making (for it at least) unusual buyout and collab moves over the past few years.
Last December, Merck announced its intent to buy ArQule and its BTK inhibitor candidate ARQ 531 for $2.7 billion. The drug is one of a clutch of BTK inhibitors in development, with the potential to work in patients who are refractory to AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson’s Imbruvica.
And back in January, Merck agreed to shell out as much as $2.5 billion in biobucks to access small-molecule inhibitors against several drug targets, including the KRAS oncogene, from Taiho and Astex.
That Themis buy saw it grab its measles viral vector platform as a late-stage entry into the race for a COVID-19 vaccine. Merck has a major human vaccine operation, which generated sales of $8.4 billion last year, but it stayed on the sidelines in the early days of the pandemic as peers such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Sanofi placed bets on COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
Li will now bring that vaccine race into sharper focus, as well as trying to get the most of the company's recent acquisitions. He has for the past three years been working on Merck’s earlier-stage research, and comes with biotech pedigree: During his tenure at the University of Utah, he co-founded multiple biotech companies based upon research conducted in his laboratory including Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Hydra Biosciences and Navigen Pharmaceuticals.
“Since joining us in 2017, Dean has demonstrated strong leadership in building our discovery and translational medicine capabilities, advanced our pipeline and paved the way for Merck Research Laboratories to build on its singular legacy,” said Merck CEO Ken Frazier. “Dean’s strong clinical background and deep scientific and technological expertise make him the right leader to ensure sustained execution of our broad portfolio during this important time.”
“It has been an honor to lead the talented people of Merck Research Laboratories during the last seven years,” added Perlmutter. “I look forward to continuing to work with Dean over the next few months to advance our scientific strategy and continue the strong momentum in our pipeline.”
Outside of his Insitro role, which will not take up too much of his time, it is unclear whether Perlmutter will be moving onto another biopharma or biotech role, as many former big-hitters tend to do after a pharma retirement.
Merck's shares were flat on the news in early Friday trading.