This story appears in the August 16, 2015 issue of Forbes. Subscribe
So Yancopoulos, now 55, signed on with a nascent Tarrytown, N.Y.-based biotech firm called Regeneron--and has since led the invention of four approved drugs and a technology platform designed to invent more. Shares in Regeneron have increased a startling 2,240% over the past five years, and Yancopoulos' stake has made him a billionaire, the first pharmaceutical research chief ever to hit ten figures. "We were a tiny company, but we had the most powerful technology," he says. "And sometimes that's what counts."
"George sees and feels biology in ways very few scientists really can," says Elias Zerhouni, the president of global R&D at Sanofi. "It is this creative intuition combined with scientific rigor that makes him special in my view."
Also key to Yancopoulos' success: the group of scientists who have stuck with him, and, more than anyone, the man who hired him, Regeneron CEO Leonard Schleifer (who is himself worth $1.7 billion). Schleifer lauds Yancopoulos for his "immense talent and genius."
Yancopoulos' fourth drug, Praluent (for lowering cholesterol in people already maxed-out on statins), was approved on July 24. It's expected to be a big seller, and Regeneron and Sanofi are focused on what is likely to be a pitched marketing battle with rival
He says that he has aimed to be a different kind of R&D chief, and a bit of a throwback to his role model – and Regeneron’s chairman – Roy Vagelos, whose run as R&D head and then chief executive of
Yancopoulos still drives an eight-year-old Honda Pilot, does his kids' laundry and dresses in the worn Oxfords and khakis of an academic scientist. He is uncomfortable discussing his wealth but hopes that the very thought of it, generated by lifesaving drugs, might serve "as an inspiration to kids who [might] otherwise become hedge fund managers."
Watch Yancopoulos' memorable panel at last year's Forbes Healthcare Summit: