SAN FRANCISCO — George Yancopoulos has been the chief scientist at Regeneron since it was founded in 1988, and was a leading force behind the development of the company’s medicines, including the eye drug Eylea and Dupixent, an antibody originally approved to treat atopic dermatitis but now used for other autoimmune diseases. (Yancopoulos points out that it’s cleared for a huge number of conditions.)
STAT sat down with Yancopoulos at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, where he was, as usual, incredibly outspoken. He said that he enjoys the annual meeting, where he thrives on continuous social interaction, conversation, and argument. However, he misses his morning trail runs in the woods in New York, which he said is where he does a lot of his scientific thinking.
Below are a few exchanges from our conversation, edited a bit for clarity but substantially for length — a Yancopoulos comment can easily run for several pages and encapsulate decades. Among other things, we talked about President Trump’s “most-favored nations” policy on drug pricing and why Regeneron is the only company among 17 to receive presidential letters urging them to lower prices that hasn’t yet struck a deal.
Why haven’t you guys done an MFN deal with Trump yet? That’s the thing I hear people asking most. I mean, he received your antibody treatment for Covid.
This article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers
Unlock this article — plus daily coverage and analysis of the biotech sector — by subscribing to STAT+.
Already have an account? Log in
