New Rochelle, NY, August 5, 2013—Leonard Schleifer, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN), moved into the top spot on the GEN list of the highest-paid biopharma CEOs with a total compensation package of $30,047,097 in 2012. William Weldon, former chairman/CEO of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), came in second place after tallying $29,838,259 a year ago, according to GEN.

“Dr. Schleifer’s biopharma-related financial status actually grew by an astounding 184.5% from 2011,” says John Sterling, editor in chief of GEN. “This was largely due, no doubt, to the FDA’s approval last year of Regeneron’s Eylea, a drug for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration. The product has also been approved for use in Europe and Japan.”

The number 3, 4, and 5 positions on the GEN list were filled, respectively, by Ian Read, chairman and CEO of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), $25,634,136; Lamberto Andreotti, CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY), $17,201,980; and Ken Frazier, chairman, president, and CEO of Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK), $15,459,607.

This year’s list saw two key changes. One is that this year’s rankings are of individuals rather than companies, since two of last year’s Top 10 companies had more than one CEO during 2012. And the list has expanded to a Top 15, to ensure inclusion of all four CEOs with compensation in the $13.5 million range, rather than just one, and to better illustrate the spread beyond U.S. big pharma of compensation packages at or close to the eight-figure range.

To see the entire listing of GEN’s Top 15 Money-Making Biopharma CEOs, please click here.

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