Health
AbbVie CEO Who Grew Company Through Big M&A Deals Set to Retire
- Gonzalez drove many large deals including two late last year
- Incoming CEO to continue diversification beyond Humira
Richard Gonzalez
Photographer: Zach Gibson/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
AbbVie Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Richard A. Gonzalez will retire after a colorful tenure that included the multibillion takeover of Botox-maker Allergan as he raced to wean the company off of its reliance on blockbuster Humira.
Gonzalez became AbbVie’s first CEO when it spun out from Abbott Laboratories in 2013. He’s spent the past decade doing deals to help build the company up in a variety of areas like oncology, dermatology and more recently, neurology. AbbVie’s autoimmune-disease treatment Humira has long been one of the world’s best-selling medicines and Gonzalez has been finding new ways to keep the business growing after Humira lost exclusivity.