Marianne De backer m.b.a., m.sc. on career history
From Vir Biotechnology: Marianne De Backer on Immuno-Oncology, Hepatitis Delta, and Biotech Turnarounds · · IDEA Pharma
“We are about one and a half billion dollar market cap public company here in San Francisco headquartered. I had a long career before becoming CEO of VI in the pharma industry. I started actually more than 30 years ago at Jansen. I knew Dr. Paul Jansen when he was still there and I started as a scientist, you know, local biologist. I worked about 10 years in drug discovery and then I did a rather drastic move into more, you know, corporate and business. So I did an MBA in finance and I went into you know licensing and business development and from there I actually went on to lead a commercial business. So I launched two products in Europe, one in iminology, one in neuroscience and then you know further evolved my career in corporate development. I did a lot of M&A and yeah I mean what has been driving me my entire career is bringing impact to patients. Uh, and I have been incredibly fortunate to do that in a lot of different ways.”
On , Marianne De backer m.b.a., m.sc., Chief Executive Officer & Director at VIR BIOTECHNOLOGY INC, spoke about career history during Vir Biotechnology: Marianne De Backer on Immuno-Oncology, Hepatitis Delta, and Biotech Turnarounds on IDEA Pharma.
About Marianne De backer m.b.a., m.sc.
Marianne De Backer, CEO of Vir Biotechnology, discussed the company’s strategic turnaround in an April 2026 podcast interview. She noted that Vir Biotechnology was "incredibly successful during the COVID pandemic" with its drug sotrovimab, but after the virus evolved new variants, the company "went from a billion dollars in revenue one year to almost none the next." De Backer stated that she downsized the company by about one-third and closed some sites, adding that "cash is king" and that "you can have the best science and the best ideas in the world, but you need to fund your operations." De Backer described refocusing Vir Biotechnology on immuno-oncology and infectious disease, highlighting its masked T-cell engager pipeline and PRO-XTEN® masking platform. She said the company secured "more than a half billion in upfront income" through deals with Orion and Astellas, as well as a $173 million financing. De Backer also mentioned meeting with Dr. Mer Machi as part of a group of biotech CEOs, stating that "we are in a competitive global environment" and that she is "hopeful we will see changes to move faster across regulatory processes."