"Millennium CEO resigns amid changes" by Robert Weisman | Globe Staff, May 09, 2013
The chief executive of Millennium Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge resigned suddenly Thursday after its Japanese parent company, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., moved to fold Millennium’s big Cambridge-based cancer research unit into corporate research and development.
Deborah Dunsire, 50, who has been president and chief executive of Millennium since 2005 and helped engineer its $8.8 billion sale to Takeda in 2008, is one of the best known women in the biomedical industry. She will be replaced as Millennium’s president by Anna Protopapas, 48, a longtime colleague who has worked at Millennium for 16 years, most recently as executive vice president and head of global business development, according to Takeda.
The move was disclosed in a statement issued from Takeda headquarters in Osaka, Japan....
As part of that move, Cambridge researchers will report to Tachi Yamada, the new Takeda chief medical and scientific officer, who is based in Deerfield, Ill., outside Chicago. Yamada was hired by Takeda last year after leading global health programs at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation....
Separately, the Japanese drug giant reported operating income had been weaker than hoped for and that it was moving forward with an efficiency plan that includes integrating Millennium’s research center....
They are moving it to Chicago!
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"Millennium chief faces questions, uncertainties; Japanese parent company’s restructuring may lead to job cuts, she acknowledges" by Robert Weisman | Globe Staff, June 18, 2013
CAMBRIDGE — The questions are fueled by last month’s departure of Deborah Dunsire, 50, one of the best-known women in the biomedical industry, who had led Millennium since 2005 and negotiated its $8.8 billion sale to Takeda in 2008. Since then, Takeda has often been cited by local biotech officials as an example of how benevolent, hands-off global pharmaceutical giants continue to invest in and expand the Massachusetts companies they acquire.
But Dunsire’s resignation was prompted by a Takeda decision to merge Millennium’s Cambridge-based cancer research unit into corporate research and development, which is being streamlined because earnings are weaker than expected....
Chris Leo, senior vice president at the Boston consulting firm Back Bay Life Science Advisors, said, “Everyone in big pharma has been restructuring and streamlining research in order to drive efficiency and cut some costs out of the equation. Takeda is just falling in line.”
If there are layoffs at Millennium, which has nearly 1,400 employees, including commercial and administrative staffers, the real question is whether it can retain local talent, particularly in research, Leo said.
“Millennium was always one of the best places to work, not only in biopharma but in any industry,” he said. “They’re still going to be a presence in R&D here, and I’m sure they’ll have some autonomy, but it seems clear the major decisions are going to be made by the mother ship.”
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Protopapas sought to downplay the significance of Millennium’s split structure. She noted the company continues to deploy cross-functional product teams, including research and commercial representatives, for three experimental drugs: a pill for multiple myeloma and therapies to treat prostate cancer and peripheral T-cell lymphoma. All three medicines are in late-stage clinical trials. If those drugs are approved in the US market in the next two years, she said, the commercial force will grow.
“Reporting lines don’t necessarily determine how people interact with one another,” Protopapas said. “People here have worked together for years. We have our hands full with these three drugs over the next few years.”
Protopapas, a Greek native of Cyprus who is now a US citizen, embodies the international character of Takeda. Even before taking the Millennium reins from the Zimbabwe-born Dunsire, Protopapas, who has worked at the company for 16 years, made her mark by engineering a series of acquisitions to extend Takeda’s footprint worldwide. Those deals included the $13.5 billion takeover of Zurich-based Nycomed Pharma GmbH in 2011. That purchase gave the company a strong presence throughout Europe as well as in emerging nations like Russia and Brazil.
Other drug giants with revamped research and development have moved drug-discovery programs to the Boston area. For instance, Pfizer Inc. shifted some work here from Connecticut, while Sanofi SA transferred programs from New Jersey. It’s unclear whether Takeda might follow this model. But even if Millennium’s research labs take a hit, it is possible they could expand again down the road, Protopapas suggested....
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"Former Millennium CEO to head EnVivo" by Robert Weisman | Globe Staff, July 11, 2013
Deborah Dunsire, who in May resigned suddenly as Millennium Pharmaceutical’s chief executive, will return to the biotechnology industry to lead EnVivo Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Dunsire, 51, one of the best-known women in the life-sciences field, said she will start in mid-August as chief executive of EnVivo, a Watertown maker of drugs to treat central nervous system disorders. Its lead drug candidate, which is entering late-stage clinical trials, seeks to improve cognition for patients suffering from schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.
“I’ve always loved to build,” said Dunsire. “The opportunity to build a company in an area so rife with need as the neuroscience area is very exciting.”
EnVivo, bankrolled by the Cambridge venture capital firm Fidelity Biosciences, was formed in 2001. It has about 130 employees operating out of two buildings in Watertown, but Dunsire said the staff will grow as the company’s drug pipeline advances and it builds a commercial sales force....
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