About Giovanni Caforio
Giovanni Caforio, Executive Chairman of the Board at Bristol Myers Squibb, has discussed the company's pipeline and business strategy in recent appearances. In November 2021, Caforio stated that the company was launching nine new medicines, describing the pace as "unprecedented" for the company)Skip. He projected the new drugs would generate $10 billion to $13 billion in sales by 2025, with the potential to exceed $25 billion by 2029. Caforio noted that the company's pipeline had doubled and that it was pursuing both internal R&D and external business development, including small bolt-on acquisitions, to replace products losing exclusivity. He also expressed concern about a "secondary health crisis" from delayed cancer treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that managing the flow of patients back into healthcare systems was "absolutely critical."
In January 2019, Caforio discussed the acquisition of Celgene, describing it as creating a company focused on science and innovation in oncology, autoimmune diseases, and cardiovascular disease. He stated that the deal would allow the combined company to launch six medicines in the following 24 months and accelerate 50 more medicines to patients. Caforio emphasized a responsible approach to drug pricing, saying the company was committed to making medicines affordable and accessible, while also expressing concern that government price-setting could harm innovation. He noted that the industry had been "very responsible" with pricing, with inflation-adjusted increases of less than 1% over the prior two years.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Giovanni Caforio's recent appearances.
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Transcript (16 segments)
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Interviewer0:11
You're launching here. What was the reaction from the investor base?
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Giovanni Caforio0:14
Well, thanks for having me first of all. It was great to be in the same room with investors and be able to discuss the progress we've made. We are launching nine new medicines in a short period of time, which is really unprecedented for our company. The pipeline of Bristol-Myers Squibb has doubled, and we communicated the potential of those medicines. We see them at 10 to 13 billion dollars in sales by 2025, with the potential to be over 25 billion dollars in sales by 2029. So we're really confident that we have a number of growth opportunities and drivers to replace the products that are losing exclusivity and grow the company through the decade.
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Interviewer1:12
Part of the drivers, at least your pipeline?
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Giovanni Caforio1:14
Well, we have a very diversified pipeline across multiple platforms. The platforms we're investing in are really exciting. I'll give you two examples. One is protein homeostasis, a completely different way of treating disease. We have five products in the clinics right now. And one of the most exciting areas is cellular therapy. One of our medicines, Breyanzi, we presented data where for some forms of lymphoma it will change the standard of care, which had been established over 20 years ago. So these are just examples of the sort of diversification of our pipeline and the leadership we have in really exciting science areas.
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Interviewer2:12
That pipeline also develop new medicines and renew our portfolio all the time?
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Giovanni Caforio2:15
Our history as a company is one where multiple times in our past we've been really successful at renewing our portfolio. We knew we have a number of losses of exclusivity coming, but the launch of new medicines, nine new medicines in a short period of time, over 50 medicines in phase 1 and phase 2 early development, again we're really confident that the renewal of our portfolio is accelerating ahead of those losses of exclusivity, and we're very confident we'll continue to grow the company through that period.
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Interviewer2:50
You've grown the company organically but also inorganically, making purchases and the like. I'm interested as to how much M&A falls into your strategy.
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Giovanni Caforio3:11
Key pillars in terms of our strategy. We look at two types of deals. Science-based early research collaborations are critical to our strategy. That's how we broaden our research platforms. We established over 85 collaborations in the last few years. But we also look at mid-size and small-size bolt-on acquisitions. We did that with MyoKardia, which brought to us a really exciting medicine, Mavacamten, that we're already getting ready to launch at the beginning of next year. That will continue to be an integral part of our strategy.
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Interviewer3:48
And how much assurance can you give investors with regards to the supply, basically keeping that pipeline not just with the development of the drugs but once they're made, getting them out there?
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Giovanni Caforio4:10
I must say that throughout the pandemic we've been very successful. Our business continuity management has enabled us to continue to supply medicines around the world to our patients. It's critically important and we pay a lot of attention.
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Interviewer4:24
Were there any issues with some of the input costs or availability of some of the inputs that you needed for the manufacture?
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Giovanni Caforio4:31
Well, of course in our industry, a lot of manufacturing has been focused on vaccines, and there are some ingredients that are the same for other complex biologics like the ones that we manufacture. So I'm really proud of our teams because throughout the pandemic they've been able to overcome those obstacles and not only continue to supply medicines to patients but also keep the R&D engine going, clinical trials continuing.
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Interviewer5:10
Pressures passing those on to the consumers. Pre-COVID, there were a lot of discussions in the administration about drug pricing and trying to put pressure on health care companies and drug makers to make it more affordable, more accessible. Do you still see that as a real regulatory risk in a post-pandemic world?
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Giovanni Caforio5:30
Well, there clearly is discussion about healthcare reform in Washington right now, and there are elements that are concerning to us. For example, the prospect that the government may set prices. We know in every country where that happens, innovation suffers. There are some of the reforms that are being discussed, like establishing a cap for out-of-pocket costs for seniors, that the industry has been advocating for a long time.
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Interviewer6:12
That you might comment on more specifically. We've had a lot of people worry about whether or not people have been able to get the treatment they needed during COVID. In particular, they talk about the secondary health crisis of people not having been able to treat the cancer that they had. Is that something you worry about? Do you feel that's something that's being tackled?
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Giovanni Caforio6:29
We are concerned about that because when we look at the number of patients with cancer that go to health care centers in the US today, it's still five to ten percent below where it was before the pandemic. So I think it's absolutely critical that we manage the flow of patients back into the health care system because we are worried about the consequences of that.
