Skip to content

David K. Lee

Chief Executive Officer

David K. Lee is a seasoned veteran of the pharma industry dedicated to bringing innovative, responsible and life-changing products to patients. As CEO, David leads Servier Pharmaceuticals’ efforts to leverage Servier Group’s global portfolio and seek acquisitions, licensing deals and partnerships in the United States. Under David’s leadership, the company has quadrupled its oncology portfolio and completed several business development and licensing agreements — including a $1.8 billion acquisition of Agios Pharmaceutical’s oncology business in 2021. Beyond business initiatives, David invests time in transforming the company’s culture to foster a people-first environment that is diverse and inclusive and prioritizes well-being. Since its inception in 2018, the company’s growth has positioned Servier Pharmaceuticals as a leader in the oncology space, achieving successful and significant clinical trial results and tackling hard-to-treat cancers.

David has held leadership positions at several industry-leading companies throughout his career, including Shire, Baxalta and Novartis. Before being the CEO of Servier Pharmaceuticals, he served as Shire’s Head of the Global Genetic Disease and Oncology franchises. He oversaw the cross-functional leadership teams responsible for strategy, marketing, business assessment and planning. His career highlights include the approval of products for oncology and genetic diseases. David also guided Servier’s acquisition of the Shire Oncology portfolio.

Energized by his mission to find cures for cancer and rare diseases, David spent time early in his career working at Partners in Health in Rwanda, the World Health Organization in Geneva and the Boston Medical Library. While at Novartis, he helped launch novel vaccines and orchestrated the successful cross-functional completion of various clinical trials. He has a passion for open innovation that feeds his commitment to identifying meaningful partnerships across the healthcare spectrum to foster next-generation scientific discovery that will have a lasting social impact in the United States and, ultimately, worldwide.


David received his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Harvard University and his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.