Róbert Wessman

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Wilhelm Róbert Wessman (born 4 October 1969) is an Icelandic business executive^[1][2] and founder of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies Alvotech and Alvogen.^[3][4][5][6]

Early life[]

Wessman was born in Reykjavík on 4th October 1969 to Wilhelm Wessman, a business person and Ólöf Svafarsdóttir Wessman, a beautician.^[7] He grew up in Seltjarnarnes and moved to Mosfellsbær when he was six years old. He went to school at Menntaskólinn við Sund and received a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Iceland in 1993. After graduating, he worked for Samskip for seven years, first in the finance department, then in the sales department before finally serving as the CEO of the firm and moving to Germany.^[8] During that time he also taught mathematics on a part time basis at the University of Iceland.^[7]

Career[]

Since 1999, Wessman's career has been focused on the generics and biosimilars sectors of the pharmaceuticals industry. He is known outside of Iceland for founding and leading several global companies in these fields. The two activities differ significantly in terms of what they make and sell, as most generic drugs are relatively simple chemical compounds, while biosimilars are, like the biological therapies they are designed to replicate, the product of living cells. The central purpose and business challenge common to both is to make and distribute lower-cost, more affordable versions of brand-name therapeutics whose patent protection has expired.^[9]

Delta, Pharmaco and Actavis[]

In 1999, Wessman was appointed CEO of Delta, a generic drug manufacturer in Reykjavik.^[10][11] Following a merger with another Icelandic pharmaceutical company, Pharmaco, in 2002, Delta was rebranded as Actavis in 2004.^[12][10] Wessman's tenure at Activis was characterized by rapid growth and expansion into international markets through a series of acquisitions across Europe, in Asia, and the US. By 2004, the company had acquired 16 companies and had operations in 25 countries manufacturing and selling hundreds of products.^[13] In 2005, Actavis, traded on the Icelandic stock exchange, had a market capitalization of $1.9bn.^[14] In 2006, it acquired two US generics companies to enter the US market,^[15][16] subsequently acquiring additional manufacturing plants in the US, Russia, Romania and India.^[17] In 2008, Wessman stepped down from his position as CEO of Actavis,^[18][19] by which time it grown to 11,000 employees and was one of the biggest generic drug companies in the world.^[20] Wessman's business strategy at Actavis was documented in a 2008 case study published by Harvard Business School entitled ‘Robert Wessman and Actavis’ “Winning Formula.”’^[21][22][23]

Alvogen[]

In 2009 Wessman founded the biotechnology company Alvogen, essentially starting from scratch again in the generics business.^[24] With shrinking margins at conventional generics makers, Wessman saw opportunities in generics that were difficult to make, had uncoventional delivery mechanisms, or that could be sold in underserved global markets. The company would also explore the immminent market for biosimilars as the first biologics came off patent.^[25] Alvogen started by acquiring a distressed generics maker in New York, and R&D capabilities and product portfolios in New Jersey.^[26] Over the following five years, built on a string of acquisitions, Wessman expanded production, the product portfolio and marketing efforts focusing on Eastern Europe and South Asia, then acquiring major production sites in Taiwan and South Korea.^[27] By 2016, Alvogen, which has always been a private company, was estimated to be worth $4bn.^[28] Wessman's strategy in building Alvogen has been the subject of two Harvard Business School case studies.^{[29] [30]}

Alvotech[]

In 2013, Wessman founded Alvotech, originally as a minority-owned spinoff of Alvogen. It was founded with a $250m investment to build its headquarters and manufacturing facility on the University of Iceland campus in central Reykjavik.^[31] Unlike Wessman's previous companies, however, Alvotech was focused exclusively on making biosimilars. The opportunity Wessman saw was that biologics, which have revolutionized the treatment of many diseases but are often very expensive, were becoming the biggest-selling therapeutics in the world and many blockbusters were going to lose patent protection by the 2020s.^[32] But successful biosimilars require highly specialized capabilities and many years to develop and approve, so the market has been dominated by special biosimilars divisions of major pharmaceutical companies with the expertise and capital required.^[33] Alvotech's strategy to compete in this market has been to focus solely on biosimilars development and production, with vertically integrated capabilities, enabling tight control over quality and costs, and with commercial partnerships to market its products around the world.^[34] At the end of 2021, Alvotech had seven biosimilars in development, the most advanced of which was a biosimilar for Humira, the world's biggest-selling drug, which has been approved for use in the EU.^[35] In December 2021 the company announced that it was entering a merger with Special-purpose acquisition company (or SPAC) Oaktree Acquisition Corp. II with the aim of listing on the Nasdaq stock market in 2022. Alvotech's press release on the merger stated that to date more than $1bn had been invested in its platform and capabilities, and the merger agreement valued the combined company at $2.25bn.^[36]

Controversies[]

In 2018 Morgunblaðið published a report showing that one third of the Alvogen's share belonged to a private firm that Wessman had established on the offshore island of Jersey in 2015.^[37] In March 2021 Wessman had been said to have replaced a number of middle tier managers within a short period of time. Soon after such reshuffling, one of Wessman's former colleagues at Alvogen made serious allegations in which he criticized Wessman's governance and misconduct while accusing him for abusive and bullying behavior over a period of years.^[38] In a statement to Bloomberg, the concerned executive alleged that he has "personally experienced and witnessed numerous instances of inappropriate behavior by Wessman" from 2010 till his last day in the company.^[39] Alvogen's board instructed to conduct an internal review and investigated Wessman's behavior and did not see any reason to take further action against him. In April 2021, Alvogen sued the employee for alleged breach of confidentiality.^[40] The allegations against Wessman also included making death threats to his former colleagues, as an SMS chat thread between Wessman and one of his colleagues revealed Wessman making the comment "You are dead I promise".^[41] As such allegations came into the news, Alvogen's spokesperson apologised on Wessman’s behalf in June 2021.^[42]

References[]