Fred Hassan


Fred Hassan, is a business executive who works for Warburg Pincus and was CEO of three global pharmaceutical companies.

Early life

Hassan was born in Multan, Pakistan, on November 12, 1945. He is the son of Syed Fida Hassan, a Pakistani statesman who also served as Pakistan's ambassador to India. His mother was Zeenat Hassan, a women's rights advocate.
In 1967, Hassan graduated with a Bachelor's in chemical engineering from Imperial College London. After working in the fertilizer industry with an affiliate of Hercules Inc., he enrolled at Harvard and obtained an MBA in 1972. He married Noreen Shah in 1969. They have three children and three grandchildren.

Career

1972–1989

Hassan was hired by Sandoz, a global pharmaceutical company, while he was still finishing his MBA at Harvard. Eleven years later, he was asked to turn around the largest operating unit, Sandoz US. During the 80s, Sandoz pioneered its move into immunology, starting first with transplantation and later with innovations in cancer. In 1989, he was recruited by American Home Products to run their pharmaceutical operation out of Radnor, Pennsylvania.

1989–1997

Hassan played an important role in helping transform AHP, later renamed Wyeth from a conglomerate to a focused, research and development driven, global pharmaceutical company. In 1991, the company hired Robert Levy, formerly head of the Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health, to lead its research and development team. Wyeth entered into the biotechnology field by buying Genetics Institute in 1991. The company also acquired A.H. Robins in 1989 and American Cyanamid in 1994 to strengthen its global operations. Important innovations including Effexor, Enbrel and Prevnar came out of these strengthened operations. In 1997, Hassan was asked to take over as CEO of the failing merger of Pharmacia & Upjohn.

1997–2000

As CEO of Pharmacia and Upjohn, Hassan made many changes, including moving its headquarters from the UK to New Jersey. The New York Times called this the "Fred Factor: investors' belief that the man who masterminded American Home Products' ascension can do an encore." Fifteen months after taking charge, the Wall Street Journal ran an article titled "Turnaround becomes a reality at Pharmacia and Upjohn". PNU acquired the pre-revenue cancer company Sugen in 1999 for $650 million, which subsequently yielded Sutent, a billion dollar product. In 2000, PNU completed a mega-merger with Monsanto to become Pharmacia. In the three years leading to Hassan's next CEO assignment, PNU's stock value had morphed from $15 billion to $52 billion.

2000-2003

As CEO, and later chairman and CEO of Pharmacia, Hassan oversaw the establishment of as a large product for pain and inflammation, and the carve-out followed by a successful initial public offering of the agricultural business under the name "Monsanto". Monsanto saw major value expansion and was subsequently acquired by Bayer for $62.5 billion. In July 2002, Pfizer approached PHA with a 44 percent premium and a $62 billion merger was announced. Shortly after the merger closed in April 2003, Hassan took over as chairman and CEO of Schering Plough, a struggling pharmaceutical company.

2003-2009

As chairman and CEO of Schering Plough, Hassan oversaw the resolution of multiple legal, regulatory, research and development, and operational challenges and was able to declare a company turnaround by 2005. Older products, including Nasonex, Remicade, Temodar, OTC , OTC Miralax, were revitalized in the marketplace. In 2007, Schering Plough acquired Organon, a Dutch company and successful innovations came from Organon's research and development, including Keytruda, Implanon and Bridion. In late 2009, Schering Plough merged with , and Hassan left for Warburg Pincus, a private equity company in New York City. "During Fred's tenure of six and a half years, Schering Plough's stock rose 62 percent, versus a drop of 21 percent for the unweighted basket of six peers."

2009–present

Hassan has played varying roles at Warburg Pincus including as a partner and Managing Director. He served as chairman of Bausch and Lomb until its sale to Valeant in August 2013. Hassan served as board member of Time Warner from 2009 until its sale to AT&T in June 2018. As of June 2019, he was a board member of Amgen, Intrexon, Modernizing Medicine, Vertice, and chairman of Theramex.
Hassan has been chairman of of companies under the umbrella headline “Powered by nature... perfected by science™.” The 4 marketed non-prescription products are IBgard®, FDgard®, Fiber Choice® and REMfresh® ). All products are carried by thousands retail stores and are also available online.

Achievements

In 1997, Hassan founded which helps challenged individuals, especially veterans, to overcome or manage mental health issues and, where possible, lead a purposeful and stable life. As of 2018, 14 million dollars had been raised to further the organization's goals.
As chairman of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association and president of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Associations , Hassan led initiatives on voluntary guidelines for promotional practices and for fuller disclosure of clinical trials. In 2003, Hassan participated in work leading to the Medicare prescription drug benefit. He worked inside the PhRMA board to start patient assistance programs, and in New Jersey received appreciation from the Health Care Institute of New Jersey for expediting Rx4NJ in 2006.
He was one of PhRMA's top team members who worked on the Affordable Care Act in 2009.
In 2008, he was asked to be on the "CEO of the Year" Selection Committee by the CEO Group and remains a member.
In 2012, Hassan was the founding participant of RDL summit as an ongoing annual forum for Life Sciences R&D leaders, CEOs, and industry specialists, to gather and discuss R&D productivity, innovations and access to medicines.
In 2012 Hassan co-founded "The CEO Forum" with Accenture. In this annual forum, Life Sciences CEOs come together and discuss management strategies.

Awards

Book: * 2013 – "Reinvent, A Leaders Playbook for Serial Success"
Articles in Harvard Business Review:
Fred Hassan Orangerie – Farleigh Dickenson University, New Jersey: 2014
Newark Academy Sports Center; New Jersey:2003

Patents

Being an innovation oriented business leader, Fred Hassan has an extensive record of patents. The USPTO lists these patents.