By: David K. Lee, CEO, Servier US and Executive Vice President, USA
When Servier U.S. first launched in a Boston WeWork in 2018 with one product and a small but mighty team, we didn’t have the traditional financial backing or even an office to call our own. Instead, we were driven by our collective hunger, hustle, and a hope to deliver medicines to patients in desperate need of new options. What I didn’t realize back then, as we worked together through many late nights, often in close quarters, is that we were quietly becoming one of the best-kept secrets in biopharma.
In just six years, so much has changed since our humble beginnings. In fact, beyond being asked, “Who are you?” I often find myself answering, “But how did you get here so quickly?” With unprecedented year-over-year growth, from either acquiring or launching a new oncology medicine, we now have five approved medications to treat numerous cancers and have opened a global research center close to our offices. We’ve worked hard to expand our reach through alliances, acquisitions, and licensing deals, boldly leaving no stone unturned as we’ve dared to address some of oncology’s most difficult challenges.
As the U.S. affiliate of Servier Group, the second-largest pharma company in France with a 70-year history of scientific excellence, a key advantage to our success is that we are privately held and governed by a non-profit foundation. This unique structure grants us the resources and network of an established global pharmaceutical company while operating with the nimble and entrepreneurial spirit of a biotech, allowing us the flexibility to be bold and put the needs of patients first.
With this freedom to focus on innovation, we have been able to keep the needs of patients, who often have few or no treatment options available, at our core. And now, we are expanding our focus and seeking partners to take on our next frontier in drug discovery and development — neurology.
Turning imagined possibilities into innovative therapeutics
Through strategic partnerships, we’ve more than doubled the size of our oncology portfolio and cemented ourselves as the leader driving the science behind targeted mutant isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) inhibition. We’ve secured several FDA approvals for treatments in cancer types where patients had little to no treatment options. This includes our most recent approval for the first targeted therapy for IDH-mutant glioma – a relentless form of brain cancer that hadn’t seen treatment advances in nearly two decades. Our precision medicine and biomarker prowess fuel this continued advancement of therapeutic innovation in oncology.
This investment in areas where others have failed or considered too risky has allowed us to treat more than 30,000 patients in the U.S. who otherwise may have been left with little hope. While R&D is a costly and time-consuming process, it’s essential to unlock the full value of our medicines. This is also why Servier Group reinvests 20% of our profits from brand-name medicines back into R&D.
As we look ahead, we are confident that our team, our expertise, and our differentiated approach will lead to the discovery of more impactful therapeutic solutions for patients who are not only living with cancer but those who are also impacted by neurological diseases and disorders.
Building on our success in oncology towards new frontiers in neurology
While we are proud of our progress, our journey is far from complete. As a team, we are driven by another question we often get asked, this one from the patients we serve, “What’s next?” Our new venture into the field of neurology represents just that.
In this complex and often unexplored field, where the brain’s mysteries challenge even the most advanced scientific minds, daring to realize every possibility ahead is not just a mission; it’s a necessity. The Servier Group’s new strategic focus on medicines for neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases will prioritize three disease areas: rare movement disorders, neuromuscular disorders, and refractory epilepsies.
Within each of these areas, there are many overlapping features, such as common biologic pathways and biomarkers and the same medical specialists from the same clinical centers of excellence. These crossovers will allow us to build and enrich our knowledge in targeted fields and increase our expertise, partnerships, and technological advantages. By creating these synergies, we will advance our work faster and with greater success as we aim to transform the neurology treatment landscape and bring hope to those living with these challenging conditions.
The time is now to reimagine our story
Navigating uncharted territories — especially in the development of novel therapeutics — demands an approach that refuses to accept limitations. It requires relentless curiosity and dares us to think beyond what we previously could conceive to be possible so that we can bring the promise of tomorrow to patients in need.
This pursuit also requires the right partners at our side. As we continue to prioritize open innovation to deliver critical medicines to patients, we are actively seeking new alliances to expand our capabilities and accelerate our research. By daring to explore every avenue through strategic collaboration, we hope to uncover breakthroughs that can transform lives.
Our journey has really just begun. Looking ahead, we hope to leave no stone unturned yet again — because patients are waiting. To learn more about partnering with us, visit our Open Innovation page.