Emerging Leaders 2009: The Faces of Innovation

What will the drug industry look like in 20 years? Can we get there? How?

These questions keep pharma folks up at night, especially those at the top, where 20-th century strategies and short-term solutions tno longer fit the bill. Reasons for panic are plenty, whether you're staring down a small biotech's ever-shortening runway or a big pharma's fast-approaching patent cliff. Of course, it's hard times in every industry these days, but none has anywhere near the inherent contradictions and high risks, regulations, technologies, and costs pressing down on every aspect of its business. True innovation in this maze is a near miracle.

FROM LEFT: DON SAWYER, TONY FOUGEROLLES, JOE SHIELDS (CENTER AND RIGHT BY JOHN HALPERN)

But that's what it will take—true innovation, not the buzzword, but the real thing—and Pharm Exec's 2009 27 Emerging Leaders know it and are striving for it. That may be why slightly more than a third hail from biotech. And nine of our honorees have already made such strides so fast that it seemed only fair to single them out. Four are MD/PhDs leading high risk/reward R&D efforts, while the other five (two are MDs) are meeting huge business challenges with a scientist's openness to the unexpected.

All of our Emerging Leaders are under age 45, and their first decade or two in pharma has left them with few illusions about the many near-miracles that will be required for enduring success. Yet they remain confident. We hope their their clear-eyed, sometimes sharp-tongued assessment of what must (and must not) be done to create a pharma for the 21st century will prove inspiring—and then give you a good night's sleep.

The 2009 Emerging Leaders are:

Mohan Bangalore, Wyeth

Carrolee Barlow, Braincells, Inc.

Hans Bishop, Bayer Healthcare

Stephanie Bova, Pfizer

Virginia Carden Carnahan, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Andrew Cheng, Gilead Sciences

Scott Cormack,Oncogenex Pharmaceuticals

Craig Dashefsky,Schering-Plough

Michelle Dipp,GlaxoSmithKline

Antonin (Tony) de Fougerolles,Alnylam

Jean-Marc Huet, Bristol-Myers Squibb

Blair Jackson,Alkermes

Frank Karbe,Exelixis

Joe Mclane,Merck

Kathryn Metcalfe,Pfizer

C. Randall Mills,Osiris Therapeutics

Paulash Mohsen,Pfizer

Elizabeth Mutisya, Solvay Pharmaceuticals

Stefan Platz,Roche

Jason Rhodes, Alnylam

Luca Santarelli,Roche

Don Sawyer,Astrazeneca

Joe Shields, Wyeth

Jennifer Spear Smith,Wyeth

Jeffrey Tong,Infinity Pharmaceuticals

Julia Walker,Astrazeneca

Ceci Zak,Sanofi-Aventis US